


I'm Sorry Steve...

by Traw



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Physical Abuse, Psychological Torture, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 24,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24123190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Traw/pseuds/Traw
Summary: Pain! It was everywhere! It was alive! And it was clawing and chewing at his insides, like a thousand meat eating ants, trying to eat him alive. Please note Ch 1 has been slightly changed to fit the longer story.
Relationships: Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams
Comments: 49
Kudos: 78





	1. Chapter 1

Pain! It was everywhere! It was alive! And it was clawing and chewing at his insides, like a thousand meat eating ants, trying to eat him alive. He was unable to stop the agonized groan that slipped between his lips as he rolled over onto his side and drew his knees up to his chest in a desperate attempt to relieve his unending pain. He could feel his own hot tears trickle down his face as he turned his head and tried to press his hot, flushed face against the cold cement floor.

He was no longer bound. He resisted the urge to laugh as the realization flittered through his thoughts. There was no need to restrain him anymore. There was no fear that he was going to escape. He was dying and his death was agonizingly painful and slow.

He whimpered as he drew in a shallow breath as his ribs screamed in protest and he closed his eyes, "I'm sorry Steve… I tried…" He breathed as he allowed himself to slide into the beckoning, painless darkness, "I really tried …"


	2. Chapter 2

**8 Hours Before**

Stepping out of the elevator, Steve McGarrett strolled down the hallway toward the Five 0 offices. He had left Danny burning the midnight oil working on a mountain of paperwork that needed to be completed by morning. He had been surprised when Danny had insisted that he wanted to continue working on it when Steve had suggested calling it a night. The dark-haired Five 0 Commander shook his head in amusement as he wondered just how late his partner had left last night and just how early Danny had arrived this morning or if he had even left the office at all. He had noticed Danny's car parked in its spot in the parking lot when he had arrived.

However, the smile slowly turned into a frown as soon as he noticed a trail of burgundy drops leading down the hall. His frown deepened as he knelt down before dipping his fingertip into one of the sticky red droplets. Lifting his finger to smell the half-dried substance, he was alarmed when he instantly recognized the unmistakable coppery sweet smell of blood. Quickly unholstering his gun, Steve rose and hurried down the hall with his back pressed against the wall, the gun held tightly in front of him, he silently followed the trail of blood. The hall was empty, and he followed the trail of blood until it veered off into a doorway. Horror cleaved at his soul when the trail went into the Five 0 offices.

His heart pounded in his chest as he reached the glass doors of the Five 0 offices. He paused just long enough to hope that his worst nightmare was not about to come true. "Danny..." Steve breathed, half in prayer and half in horror as he quickly peeked into the glass office and cubicles looking for any potential threats. Seeing no movement within, he swallowed hard as he crouched, holding his gun ready for any trouble that might be lurking within while he carefully placed a hand against the door. Pushing it open, he exploded inside, before quickly and thoroughly searching the glassed walled cubicles and the open work area for any threats or sign of his partner as he called loudly, "Danny?"

The office remained eerily still and silent.

Satisfied that the offices were empty of any potential threats, he quickly reholstered his gun as he hurried back to Danny’s cubicle, where he had last seen his partner working only hours before. Entering the cubicle, his eyes were instantly drawn to the open laptop, the overturned coffee cup and its spilled contents that had spread across the desk and was now slowly dripping into the burgundy puddle on floor that marked the end of the trail of blood. He slowly looked around the cubicle, which he now regarded as a crime scene. Running his hand over his hair, he returned his gaze at the empty desk of his partner, when realization hit hard.

Danny was missing!

The silence was broken by the ringing of his phone and he jumped, quickly snatching his cell phone from his pocket, hoping that the caller was Danny with some type of logical explanation of what had happened and reassurances that he was safe. Glancing at the caller ID, he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Danny’s name. Stabbing the connect button, he answered, “Danny?”

"Ah, McGarrett." An unfamiliar female voice quietly breathed into his ear.

Steve froze in confusion before an icy dread began to fill his soul and he asked cautiously, "Who is this?"

"Who I am does not matter," the voice purred softly. "But what does matter is what we can do for each other. I have something you want and you, McGarrett, have something I want - so let's make a trade."


	3. Chapter 3

"Ahh, McGarrett."

Danny stopped struggling against the tight ropes that bound him to the hard, straight back wooden chair, warily watching the tall, slim woman who was standing only a few feet in front of him. She turned and smiled sweetly at him as she spoke softly into the phone. Stepping closer to him, she gently trailed her fingers down the side of his face and grinned as he pulled his head back from her light touch. He was unable to stifle the soft moan that escaped as she continued her almost seductive conversation with Steve. "Who I am does not matter, but what does matter is what we can do for each other. I have something you want and you, McGarrett, have something I want - so let's make a trade."

He was unable to hear Steve's reply, but his chest tightened as the young woman looked down at him. Her fingers tugged the tape free from his mouth, dropping it to the floor, before they trailed down the side of his face and neck until they hovered just above the small bloody hole in his shoulder as she crooned into the phone. "What type of trade? Let's start with something easy, like Williams gets to live for another hour, and you get to resign from Five 0!"

"No! Steve, don't-" Danny's desperate shouted plea to Steve was abruptly cut off by a piercing scream as her fingers dug deep into his wounded shoulder. White hot pain flared from his shoulder, flowering out through the rest of his chest and down his arm to the tips of his fingers.

She licked her lips in triumph as she heard Steve gasp in horror and his desperate shout of 'Danny!' echo in her ear. "You have one hour to resign and empty your desk," she ordered coldly as she stepped back to wipe her bloodied fingers on her jeans. She shook her head in disgust as the Five 0 detective's head lolled limply down onto his chest as he passed out from the pain before she returned her attention fully back to the phone call. "And don't think for a moment you can tip anyone off as to why you are resigning or to Williams's kidnapping. If you even try, even whisper it or pass a note to anyone warning them of what is going on, I swear I will send him back to you in tiny, little pieces, one piece at a time. And don't think for a moment I won't know if you do; I am watching every move you make. One hour, McGarrett, and the countdown has begun!"

Her thumb pressed the disconnect button, abruptly ending the call, as she glanced at the unconscious detective before her. ' _What a coward_ ,' she sighed in disappointment, ' _he ran away before the fun could really start.'_ Leaning down, she snarled, seizing a handful of blonde hair and hurling his head up, smiling at the soft groan of pain. "I am going to destroy you and him, my friend, but before you die, you are going to bring him down for me!"

H50 H50 H50

Clutching the now forgotten phone in his hand, Steve stared down at the dark drying puddle of blood on the floor at his feet, his partner's agonized scream echoing continuously in his head. His heart beat wildly in his chest as he heard the dire softly spoken warning over and over again. _"Let's start with something easy, like Williams gets to live for another hour, and you get to resign from Five 0! You have one hour to resign and empty your desk. And don't think for a moment you can tip anyone off as to why you are resigning or to Williams's kidnapping. If you even try, even whisper it or pass a note to anyone warning them of what is going on, I swear I will send him back to you in tiny, little pieces, one piece at a time. And don't think for a moment I won't know if you do; I am watching every move you make. One hour, McGarrett and the countdown has begun!"_

"Steve!"

Chin Ho Kelly's worried voice from somewhere behind him startled the Five 0 Commander out of his shock, and he spun around to find his friend standing in the office doorway, his gun drawn in anticipation of trouble.

Lowering his weapon, Chin stepped closer as he studied the pinched face and haunted eyes before him. "Steve, are you okay? I saw the blood in the hall and thought…" He paused a moment as he glanced quickly around the room, his eyes falling onto the drying puddle of blood at Steve's feet before they slowly rose back up to his blanched face. "What happened?"

Quickly placing the phone back into his pocket, Steve crossed the room to where his colleague stood watching him closely. He pulled out his badge, ignoring the look of surprise on the other man's face. "I'm quitting, Chin." he announced without preamble as he pushed his gun and his badge into Chin's hand and rushed on, praying his voice would remain strong. "I will tell the Governor of my decision."

His brow furrowing at the items in his hand, Chin looked up in confusion as Steve pushed past him, heading toward the door. "I don't understand, Steve! What's going on? What's happened? Where's Danny?"

His questions remained unanswered as his friend raced out of the Five 0 office and out of the Five 0 lieutenant's sight. Still stunned at the unexpected turn of events, Chin turned and stared back around the office as he tried to make sense of the situation. As his cop instincts kicked in, he swore that he was going to get to the bottom of this, whatever it was.

H50 H50 H50

Steve stepped into the Governor's office, a searing rage overwhelming him as his mind supplied images of what must be happening to Danny right now, at what was going on to make his partner scream like that. His frustration was at an all-time high; for the life of him he couldn't recognize the woman's voice. What the hell did she want? Who was she? Regardless, he swore to himself he would find out.

For now, the main thing was keeping Danny safe; he couldn't afford to take any risks with his partner's life. He would play by her rules for now, and if that meant resigning from Five 0, then so be it. He was willing to do to it if it meant Danny was going to be allowed to live for another hour. Time was against him.

Liani, Governor Dennings's secretary, looked up from the notes she was typing as the door swung open and Steve entered with the speed and ferocity of a category five hurricane.

"Is he in?" he asked succinctly, heading toward the Governor's office door.

"Umm …yes," the small, petite woman answered, hurriedly rising to her feet. "But he's extremely busy today, Commander. You can't go in there," she warned him as she tried to catch up with the Five 0 task force leader before he reached her boss's door.

"He'll see me," Steve answered over his shoulder as he reached for the door handle and opened the door.

The Governor looked up from the report he was reading as his office door swung open and McGarrett entered his office with Liani only a few steps behind.

"I'm sorry, sir," his secretary apologized nervously. "I tried to tell Commander McGarrett that you were busy, but…"

Looking up at the young woman, the Governor waved his hand in dismissal as he said softly, "It's okay, Liani." He waited until she silently nodded and turned and left the office, closing the door behind her before he turned his attention to the tall man standing in front of his desk. "Well, Steve, you better have a good explanation for why you just barged your way into my office …"

"I'm resigning, Sir, I'm resigning from Five 0 and my resignation is effective immediately."

"Resigning?" The Governor asked, stunned at Steve's surprise announcement. "Why?"

"Personal reasons that I can't get into at the moment but Chin is totally up to date on our current cases; he would make an ideal leader for the team. I'm sorry that I can't explain my reasons any more than I have, but I have to go," Steve rushed on, giving Dennings no chance to react or question him any more than he had before he turned and hurried toward the door.

"Steve!" The Governor ordered as Steve open the door. The upset Five 0 Commander momentarily paused with his hand resting on the door and, for a brief moment, the Governor believed that McGarrett would turn around and explain what was going on. But instead, Steve walked out of the office without looking back.

H50 H50 H50

Uncertain of his next move, Steve hurried across the ornately tiled lobby floor as he headed towards the front doors of the capitol building. He jumped in surprise as his cell phone began to ring. Quickly reaching into his pocket, he pulled it free and glanced down at the caller ID that flashed on the screen. DANNY. His heart began to race as he stabbed the connect button and snapped anxiously, "McGarrett."

"Ahh, McGarrett, it's good to see you can follow orders. And you didn't even try and tip off either Kelly or the Governor in his office … I am impressed. And you just gave your partner another hour of life. But this time let's make it a little more interesting, shall we?" the now familiar voice whispered in his ear.

Glancing over his shoulder to reassure himself that no one was close enough to overhear the conversation, Steve quickly turned back around and hissed softly into the phone, "I did what you wanted, now let Williams go!"

"Shut up, McGarrett, and listen. Unless you want me to kill your partner now?" He heard her laugh before her voice hardened. "Of course, you don't, do you? So just shut up and listen! If you want Williams to stay alive and in one piece, then you better get to the Nu'uanu Pali look out. Once you get there, go straight to the information board on the top level of the lookout. Taped beneath the information board is a cell phone which will begin to ring in fourteen minutes. You will have just one minute to answer it to receive further instructions. If you don't answer the phone within that minute, Williams dies. If anyone else finds and answers the phone while it is ringing, Williams dies. If you are late, even just by a minute, your partner _will_ die."

"Wait! Wait!" Steve demanded softly. "Before I carry out any more of your demands, I want proof that Danny Williams is still alive!"

The woman hesitated as she glanced down at the unconscious detective, still tied to the chair in front of her. She studied his blood-soaked shirt and bruised face for a moment before she returned her attention back to the man on the other end of the call. "You will be given the proof of life that you want once you reach that cell phone, McGarrett. Now, you have fourteen minutes and clock is ticking down. So, I suggest you get moving or all you will get is Williams' dead body, piece by tiny piece, and let me reassure you that his death will not be easy or painless!"

Stabbing the disconnect button, she smiled coldly as she walked across to Danny and gently began to trace the side of his face with her fingers again, enjoying the sensation of her fingernails gliding through the slight five o'clock stubble that was beginning to grow. Looking back up at the man standing silently behind him, she smiled. "It's time to start having some real fun. I want everything prepared for McGarrett's next phone call."


	4. Chapter 4

Sliding his finger across the disconnect button after his call went to message bank, Chin sighed as he hit the button on speed dial again and began to listen to the phone ringing on the other end of his call, his foot tapping impatiently on the floor while he waited and prayed for Danny to answer.

"Chin? What's happened?" Kono asked anxiously as Chin hit the disconnect button when the call went to message bank again and shoved his phone back into his pocket, reholstering her gun as she joined her cousin in the doorway of Danny’s cubicle, shocked to find the blood trail she had been following led to the drying puddle of blood near Danny's desk. “Where’s Danny and Steve?”

"That's what I want to know!" Chin and Kono spun around toward the door as it swooshed open and the Governor entered the Five 0 office and looked around. "McGarrett just came charging into my office a few minutes ago and gave me his verbal resignation effective immediately, but he refused to tell me why." Suddenly noticing the trail of blood that ended in a bloody puddle next to Williams's desk, he swallowed hard before he looked back up at Chin and asked softly. "I'm guessing that whatever is going on with Steve has something to do with whatever has happened here?"

"I think so," Chin answered, putting out his arm to stop him from entering Danny’s cubicle as he began to fill Dennings in. "I saw the trail of blood outside that led into the Five 0 offices and into Danny's office when I arrived this morning. When I entered, Steve was standing here with the phone in his hand, staring into space. When I asked Steve what happened, and where Danny was, he shoved his gun and badge into my hands, told me he was quitting, and left before I could stop him."

"Are you sure that this blood belongs to Williams?" The Governor asked as he studied the burgundy puddle near the Danny's desk and blood splattered lap top and the overturned coffee mug on Danny's desk.

Chin nodded, "I'm certain it's Danny's blood, Sir, but we wont be able to say positively it is until the lab confirms it."

"Just as I was leaving about eleven last night, I heard Danny tell Steve that he was going to keep on working on the reports he was doing and burn the midnight oil so he could get some reports done and out of the way. I think Danny was hoping that they could have an easy day today and he could get off early. I know he has to pick Grace up from school this afternoon and he has her this weekend," Kono added as she found herself unable to stop staring at the ominous scene around Danny's desk. "Danny was still in his office when Steve and I left, and his car is still in the parking lot where he parked it when he got to work yesterday. I noticed it when I arrived this morning."

"So, it's possible that we could have a kidnapping of a Five 0 officer on our hands." The Governor frowned.

Chin nodded. "I've rung the lab boys; they're on their way up."

"How the hell did someone get in here, attacks and injures a Five 0 detective before kidnapping him, and nobody notices a thing?" The Governor demanded, turning and glaring in frustration at the two Five 0 officers before turning and looking back at Danny's desk.

“Danny and the security guards would have been the only ones on this floor would after midnight. If Danny was subdued and grabbed in the early hours of this morning, while the security guards were elsewhere in the palace doing his rounds, then all his kidnappers would have to do is take him down the fire escape and out into the parking lot and nobody would have seen."

"So, we can assume whoever phoned Steve also kidnapped Danny," The Governor sighed, still unable to believe that one of his elite Five 0 task force officers could be snatched from their own office in the Iolani Palace and nobody saw a thing. "And the call McGarrett received this morning was the kidnapper with their demands."

"Which must have included a demand that he resigns from the department." Chin frowned. "And that could mean this is personal…"

"Or somebody looking for revenge," Kono added.

Chin nodded before he looked across at his cousin and ordered, "Kono, check if anyone we have put away has gotten out on parole and the prison has forgotten to tell us. Also, check with the Newark Police if they know of anyone who made threats against Danny there and may be trying to make good on their threats here. Then get with HPD; I want to know the whereabouts and alibis of anyone who have made threats against Steve and Danny, both when Danny was working HPD and his time here, for the time when Danny went missing. I will check with Joe if he knows where Wo Fat is or if he is aware of any potential threats against Steve that we are not aware of."

"Will do," Kono answered before she turned and skirted around stepping around the forensic guys as they entered reached Danny’s cubicle before hurrying into her adjoining cubicle.

"So how do you want to play it?" The Governor asked following Chin across to the large computer table in the middle of the anteroom.

“Let's let Steve take the lead. If Danny has been kidnapped, and Steve is following the kidnapper's orders, he's not going to risk Danny’s safety by telling us what has happened in case someone overhears him, but knowing McGarrett, he will leave us a trail to follow. We just have to find the crumbs he is dropping.” Chin told him as his fingers began to dance across the keys of the keyboard, bringing up the list of phone calls Steve had received during the last six hours up onto the screen. He frowned as he stared at the last number that had called, instantly recognizing Danny’s number.

H50 H50 H50

Glancing down at his watch as his truck skidded to a violent stop in the parking lot of the Nu’uanu Pali lookout parking lot, Steve quickly glanced down at his watch. Traffic had been unusually heavy and drive to the lookout had taken almost twelve minutes, leaving him with less than two minutes to get to the top level of the lookout and find the cell phone. He had considered using his lights and siren to reach the look out faster, but the idea was quickly squashed because he dared not to draw any more attention to himself. He just hoped that Chin would remember the GPS tracking device in his truck and use it to trail him. Quickly exiting the car, he slammed the door closed behind him, not bothering to remove the keys or lock it as he turned and ran along the walking path up to the lookout, dodging around the groups of tourists and families who were admiring the views as they walked along the cement path.

Reaching the look out, he glanced down at his watch again; his heart rose into his throat when he saw he had less than a minute to reach the top level and get to the information board. Sprinting his way up to the top level, he heard the sound of a cell phone ringing from the direction of the information board located on the other side of the platform. Adding an extra burst of speed, he ran across to the information board. Shouldering his way through the small group of tourists who were crowded near and around the board, he ignored their indignant complaints and protests as he quickly pushed away one of the tourists who was searching for the ringing phone before reaching beneath the board and snatching the cell phone taped to the beneath it. Hitting the connect button, he answered breathlessly, "I'm here."

"That was close, McGarrett. Next time I won't be as generous with my time," he heard the familiar voice whisper in his ear.

"Okay, I'm here now but before I do anything else, I want proof that Danny is still alive," Steve demanded, his hand tightening around the phone, trying to ignore the soft-veiled threat as he moved away from the small group of glaring tourists.

“You want proof, here is your proof, the photo of your partner that was taken less than half an hour ago." The woman told him a heartbeat before the phone dinged in his ear.

Hot bile rose in the back of his throat, and the blood drained from his face when he pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at the screen. He found himself staring at Danny tied to a chair, the front of his shirt soaked in blood. "How…how do I know that he is still alive?" he managed to choke out through his tightened throat as he quickly placed the phone back up to his ear.

"He's alive," he heard her answer cockily before she added coldly, "but if you insist in more proof, here it is."

Steve jumped as he heard Danny cry out in pain before her voice took on a dangerous, no-nonsense tone. "You have your proof that he is alive! Now I want you walk across to the edge of the lookout and throw away your cell phone. You won’t need it anymore and we don’t need you buddies using it to track you, now do we?”

Steve momentarily hesitated as he looked around, uncertain if he was being watched or not. Deciding not to take any chances with Danny’s life, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Hurrying across to the lookout wall, he tossed his phone as far as he could over the edge before he lifted the other phone and said, “Okay, I’ve thrown it away, now what?”

“Good, McGarrett, you just saved your partner from a lot of pain,” The women told him coldly before she ordered, “Now go back to the parking lot. When you get there, you will see a blue Infiniti parked near your truck. Now, we both know we can't have you tipping off your friends with the police radio or them being able to keep a close, covert eye on you using the GPS device located in your truck. And here you thought I wouldn't know about your truck being fitted with a GPS tracker. Very clever, McGarrett, but not clever enough. I did warn you that I am watching your every move. So, you are going to change cars. The Infiniti is unlocked, and the key is in the ignition. I want you to get into it and drive."

"Drive where?" Steve asked, frowning.

"You will receive further instructions when you get into the car." The woman answered before she continued, "You have two minutes to get to the car and start driving. Your time starts now!"

Steve heard the call disconnect in his ear and he quickly slipped the phone into his pocket before he turned and ran back toward the parking lot, darting around tourists and other people who got in his way.

Reaching the parking lot with less than thirty seconds to spare, he paused breathlessly as he scanned the cars parked there. Spotting the blue Infiniti parked close by, he ran to it. He was not surprised to find it was unlocked. This bitch had meticulously planned everything! Quickly opening the door, he slid inside. Glancing down, he saw the key in the ignition as he had been told it would be. Reaching for the key, he expected his phone to ring again with the bitch giving him more instructions about where he had to go. He froze when he felt the chilling, unmistakable sensation of a gun barrel suddenly pressed against the back of his neck as a deep voice behind him then ordered coldly, "You're going to turn left when we pull out of the parking lot. Now drive!"


	5. Chapter 5

Staring up at the computer screen at Danny's name, the Governor frowned. "So, the last phone call McGarrett received was from Williams?"

"Or someone using Danny's phone. Which means if Danny's phone hasn't been switched off, we should get the phone's current location …" Chin looked back down at the keyboard and typed another command before looking back up expectantly at the screen, "Damn!" as he looked back down and typed in another command.

"Switched off?" Dennings asked looking up at the map on the screen before looking back at Chin.

"Switched off and the battery has probably also been removed so I can't remotely switch it back on." Chin answered distractedly as he looked down and typed several more keys on the keyboard. "But the GPS in Steve's truck is working." Chin added, looking back up at the screen and smiling as a red dot appeared on the map. "His truck is currently parked in the Nu'uanu Lookout parking lot."

"The Nu'uanu Lookout, why would he go there?' Dennings frowned staring up at the map on the screen.

"I don't know Sir, but I'm going to try and find out." Chin answered as he turned and headed towards the door, pausing just long enough to tell Kono they had a lead before they both rushed out of the office, leaving the Governor staring after them.

H50 H50 H50

Glancing into the rear-view mirror at the man who sat behind him, holding the gun against the base of his skull, Steve frowned as the man behind him ordered to drive down a little used narrow dirt road that dead ended only a mile down the road. "Are you sure? This road leads nowhere."

"Shut up and pull over right here," the man ordered, pressing his gun harder against Steve's head before adding softly, "And keep your hands on the steering wheel where I can see them."

Sighing, Steve stopped the car as he was ordered, keeping his hands on the steering wheel as he glanced in the rear-view mirror at his captor and asked, "Okay we're stopped, now what?"

"Now it's time for you to say goodnight!" The man laughed as he raised his gun and slammed it hard on the back of Steve's head, grinning as Steve groaned and slumped forward onto the steering wheel. Tucking his gun into the waistband of his pants, he opened the car door and quickly climbed out of the back seat of the car.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a pair of handcuffs before opening the driver's door and grabbing Steve's arms, handcuffing them behind his back. He then roughly pushed Steve across to the passenger side of the car and climbed in.

Glancing at the unconscious man slumped on the seat beside him, he smiled; everything was going to plan just as she had told him it would. Confident that the Five 0 commander would not regain consciousness before they reached their destination, he started the car and did a U-turn, scraping the side fender of the car against a tree before driving back in the direction they had just come, turning right at the corner.

H50 H50 H50

Thanking the man whom he had been talking to when he saw Chin's car turn into the parking lot, Joe White turned and hurried across to where Chin parked. Waiting until the two Five 0 officers climbed out of their car, he nodded across to the familiar truck parked close to the pedestrian path that led up to the famous Pali lookout. "I was on my way across the Pali going across to the leeward side when you called, Chin, so I got here about ten minutes ago. You were right, Steve's truck is here, right next to the path leading up to the lookout. I have already checked it out, it's unlocked and the keys are still in the ignition."

"What about Steve, is he still here?" Chin asked as they followed Joe across to where Steve's truck was haphazardly parked, taking up two car spaces.

"I'm afraid he was already gone by the time I got here, Chin. Several witnesses I spoke to said they saw Steve speed into the parking lot before getting out of his car and running toward the top level of the lookout. Once he got there, he ran across to the information board, pushing several tourist standing around it out of the way to answer a ringing cell phone that several witnesses told me was tapped beneath the board."

"Did you say there was a cell phone taped beneath the information board?" Kono asked, her eyes wide.

Joe nodded.

"If he had a time limit to answer the phone, could explain why he left his truck unlocked and the keys in the ignition." Chin frowned as he glanced at Steve's truck before looking back at the Navy SEAL.

"That's what I was thinking." Joe agreed.

"Did anyone overhear the conversation?" Chin asked.

"No, Steve moved away from everyone after he answered the phone but several witnesses did tell me that during the conversation he moved across to the edge of the lookout and appeared to throw his own cell phone over the side before he hung up and ran back down towards the parking lot like the devil was on his tail. He was seen getting into a blue sedan parked next to his truck before taking off again."

"Whoever is behind this probably knew that we would track him somehow. So, to stop us from being able to do that, they made him get of rid his own cell phone and get in another car."

"We did get lucky," Joe smiled, "I did get a description of the car that Steve got into before he left. One of the men that I spoke with said he saw Steve climb into a blue Mazda Infiniti and take off out of the parking lot like a rocket before turning left onto the highway."

"Was there anyone else in the Infiniti?"

"Not that he saw but he did manage to get a partial on the number plate- PRZ 1, he said he wasn't able to get the last two numbers."

Quickly typing the partial number plate and the description of the car into her note book, Kono nodded, "Got it, Chin. A blue Infiniti, licence plate PRZ 119, registered to a Brian Hudson. was reported stolen to HPD late last night. He claims he discovered it missing from the office parking lot when he left work about ten."

Turning to Kono, Chin ordered "Let's get a BOLO out on that car, make sure HPD knows if they see it, they are to contact us and not approach it." Turning back to Joe, Chin asked, "Would you mind staying here until the lab guys get here to collect Steve's truck?"

"Of course." Joe nodded, "Where are you going?"

"To pay a visit to Brian Hudson about a stolen car." Chin answered as he and Kono turned and headed back towards their car.

H50 H50 H50

"How did it go?"

"Without a hitch, just how you said it would. He didn't even put up a fight."

"What about the car? Are the boys dumping it?"

"Yeah, I told them to make sure they wipe it clean before they do."

The soft voices were coming from somewhere behind him. Steve swallowed hard and tried to ignore the pain that throbbed in the back of his head as he struggled to remember how he had gotten here. Slowly, the memories of everything that had happened during the last few hours returned. Snapping his eyes opened, he found himself staring at his missing partner who was tied with thick ropes to a chair directly in front of him. The front of Danny's shirt was drenched with blood from a bullet wound in his shoulder.

"Danny!" The shocked horrified gasp slipped from his lips as he began to struggle against the ropes that bound him tightly to the chair.

"Ah, nice of you to finally wake up and join us, Steven." The soft, now familiar female voice greeted him from behind. "I was starting to think you were going to sleep the day away."

He turned and stared at the woman standing behind him, his eyes opening wide in recognition. "Angela!"

She stepped closer and gently rubbed the pistol down Steve's jawline as she smiled coldly, pure hate shining in her eyes. "Yes, Steve, it's me!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry for missing out on yesterday's update, so to make up for it I will be posting another chapter soon after I finish tidying it up.


	6. Chapter 6

"Sir, two officers from Five 0 are here. They are wanting to talk to you about your stolen car.”

Looking up from the file he was reading, Brian Hudson smiled at his secretary, “Hopefully they have some good news for me. Show them in.”

Nodding, she backed out and held the glass door open allowing Chin and Kono to enter before she introduced them to her boss. “Mr Hudson, this is Lieutenant Kelly and Officer Kalakaua from Hawaii Five 0.”

“Thank you Kalena, I’ll let you know if I need anything else.”

The secretary nodded before she turned and left the office, closing the glass door softly behind her before she returned back to her desk.

"Five 0?” Hudson frowned before replacing the frown with a warm smile, “I didn’t realize that finding a stolen car would be important enough for HPD to call out the big guns. Please take a seat.”

Chin shook his head, “No. its fine. We promise we won’t take up much of your time. We just have a few questions about your car that we would like to ask you..”

“Of course, you can ask me anything,” the business man nodded before he added, “but I have a question of my own first. Have you found it yet?”

"I’m afraid not yet, Sir, but we're working on it." Chin answered softly.

"Then, I’m afraid I don’t quite understand...then why are you here? And just why is Five 0 investigating my stolen car?"

"We just need to check on a few things." Chin smiled warmly before asking, "I understand that you reported your car stolen late last night?"

Hudson frown deepened and he slowly nodded.

"And it was stolen from your office parking lot?"

Hudson slowly nodded again, as he picked up his pen and began to fidget with it. "Um, yeah, that’s right. I was, uh, working late, and when I came out around ten, the car was gone."

"Hmm," Chin breathed before frowning himself, “And you are sure you discovered your car missing from the parking lot about ten last night?”

“Positive.” Brian nodded hard, shifting in his chair as he asked nervously, “Why are you asking?”

"You see, Mr. Hudson, we have a bit of a problem here. Your business recently installed cameras in the parking lot after a rash of vandalisms. Were you aware of that?" Hudson’s face grew white and he audibly swallowed as Chin continued softly."So, after you reported your car last night, a couple of HPD officers checked the security cameras but it seems your car was not even parked in the parking lot when you claimed it was. In fact, the security tapes show your car leaving the car park hours earlier at five pm around the same time that your boss said that you left for the day.”

"Well… they must have made some sort of a mistake. I did leave earlier in the evening to grab something to eat but I returned to the office afterwards. So, tell me, what Hell are all these questions about and why is Five 0 investigating my stolen car?” Hudson demanded.

"Your car was involved in a crime,” Kono told him softly.

“And you think that I had something to do with it…” Hudson swallowed hard, beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he nervously glanced out of his door at his secretary before looking back at the two Five 0 officers and whispering. "Look, I know it's morally wrong, but illegal?! We weren't even in the car! And it was just last night! And a couple of times before that...but honest, I…"

"You what, Mr. Hudson?"

"You can't tell my wife this!” Hudson begged, his face drained of any color and the panic he was feeling evident on his face, “As far as she's concerned, I was at work late and the car was stolen from my office."

"Mr. Hudson, I don't think you appreciate the trouble you're facing…"

"Please! I beg you! My whole life is on the line here!"

"You're right; it is," Chin nodded. "Life in prison."

"For adultery?!"

"What?" Chin asked, momentarily unsure that he had really heard what he had just heard.

Looking down at his lap, Hudson confessed guiltily. "You see...I've sorta got this thing going with my boss's wife. Been going on about a couple months now. We meet every few nights at a motel in Waikiki. Shitty little place, but we don't really notice, ya know? Anyway, my wife thinks I work late those nights, and she has to keep thinking that! She can't find out just because some tweaker stole my car!"

"So that's really where the car was taken from … a motel?" Chin asked, his heart sinking that this was a dead lead.

"Yeah, over on Kahekai.” Hudson nodded, looking up at Kono as her phone began to ring. He waited until she turned and left the room, closing the door securely shut behind her before he looked back at Chin and continued, “When we left the hotel last night about a quarter after nine, the car was gone. Haven't seen it since. Whatever happened to it after that, I was not involved, I swear!"

Chin nodded, “We are going to need your boss’s wife’s name and where we can find her to confirm what you just told us.”

“Of…of course… just please… do it discreetly, if her husband or my wife find out…” He pleaded as he grabbed a piece of paper and began to write down the information Chin had asked for, momentarily looking up as his office door opened and Kono poked her head in.

"Chin, HPD just found the car, abandoned!"

“Please, promise me that you will be discreet,” Hudson begged again, handing Chin the piece of paper before Chin turned to leave. Holding the piece of paper for a second longer than he needed to as he continued to beg, “Please…”

“We can’t promise anything,” was all that Chin answered as he took the slip of paper and turned and followed Kono from the office.

H50 H50 H50

As she slowly walked behind the chair where Danny was tied, Angela's eyes lit up with satisfaction, never leaving Steve's surprised face. She smiled. "Nice to see you remember me, Steve. It's been what? Five years? No, wait, silly me, it's been seven years."

She looked down at Danny as she ran her fingers through his hair, her smile growing when he flinched away. Looking back up at Steve who was watching her warily, she said, "Seven long years since I last saw you at Shawn’s court-martial when you stood up on that stand and destroyed our lives."

"I didn't destroy your lives, Angela. Shawn did that all on his own," Steve reminded her gently.

"You were the one who got up on that stand, and it was your evidence that got him sent away!"

"He was guilty, Angela," Steve said softly, tensing up as her fingers snagged a handful of Danny’s hair.

"He was doing his job!" she hissed.

"He murdered three innocent civilians in cold blood," Steve reminded her firmly, “One of them a two-year-old child.”

"He was trying to do his job. He told me it was the only way he was going to be able to get the information he needed to get.”

“Information about a drug cartel shipment that he wanted to rip off.”

“He was just trying to provide for his family!” Angela growled. “And you were his closest friend. He believed that he could count on you to watch his back and keep your mouth shut about what you saw, not help send him away to jail for the rest of his life like some common scumbag criminal!"

"I didn't have a choice!"

"You didn't have a choice? Oh, don't give me that! You had a choice, Steven; you had a choice to keep your mouth shut and look the other way! You could have protected Shawn, but you didn't! Instead of being a friend, you opened your mouth and got him sent to Leavenworth, knowing it was a death sentence, but you didn't care, did you? All you cared about was carrying out your duty and honor as a goddamn Navy SEAL, no matter who got hurt!" Angela growled through clenched teeth as her hold on Danny's hair grew tighter.

"Did you know he died in that hell hole?" Her hatred for the man whom once had been her husband's closest friend grew when she saw Steve's eyes widen with surprise and shock. "No, you didn't know!" she breathed softly as she glared at Steve. "Or is it you just didn't care?"

"Ang…"

"Well, Steven, either way it doesn't matter because I am going to destroy your life just as you destroyed Shawn's and mine! I have plans for you my friend, plans that will set not only myself and my boys up for life but also some of my friends here." She smiled as she nodded toward the man standing behind Steve's chair. "And when I am finished, you will discover just what kind of life you condemned Shawn to after you sent him to jail and to ensure your cooperation, well as you know, that's what Danny-boy here is for."

"Don't…don't do anything…she says…Steve!"

Danny's desperate warning ended with a pain-filled gasp as Angela jerked his head back hard by the handful of hair she held. She snarled viciously into his bruised and battered face, "Say another word, Williams, and I will let the boys have a little more fun with you, sooner rather than later."

“Go to Hell!” Danny managed to gasp through gritted teeth.

"No, Angela, leave him alone," Steve pleaded desperately, his heart beating painfully in his chest as Danny grimaced in pain. "Danny has nothing to do with any of this. Please, Angie, just let him go."

Allowing Danny's head to drop back down but still keeping her fingers entwined in his hair, she smiled as she looked back across at Steve, ignoring his pleas. Suddenly she asked, "How's your sister, Steve? Mary-Anne, isn't it?"

Steve froze and Danny slowly lifted his head in surprise, the fear for Steve and Mary-Anne evident in his eyes as he stared at his partner.

Angela smiled and continued more softly, "Yes, Mary-Anne, that's her name. She's on the mainland at the moment, isn't she?"

Her smile grew icy cold as Steve remained silent. "No, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to because I already know. She’s currently living in Los Angeles at the moment. I understand she is working as an air hostess. It must be nice being able to spend some time with her during her layovers whenever she flies into Honolulu. Not quite the profession I envisaged her being in but I guess it’s appropriate for her. I heard that she is a bit of an airhead …"

"Don't you dare hurt her…" Steve growled, struggling to get free.

"Why Steve, you should know me better than that. I would never harm a hair on your sister’s head, not yet anyway, not while I have Williams here. Shame the same thing could not be said about her own brother." Angela grinned cruelly as she glanced down at her watch before looking back up at Steve and admonished him. "A caring brother would never send his sister such a cold, cruel email - as the one she should be opening about now - telling her that he just discovered she isn't his sister at all, well not his full-blooded sister. Seems you discovered that your mother had an affair which resulted in Mary-Anne’s birth and your father only forgave your mother under duress, and accepted Mary-Anne as his own, after your mother threatened to leave and take you with her.

"Nooo…." Steve whispered, horrified that anyone, particularly a woman could ever send such an email as she was describing.

"And that’s the real reason why he so quickly sent her away after your mother’s death. He was glad to finally get rid of her and separate the two of you. He didn’t want to have anything more to do with her. And now, neither do you.

Oh, I am sure she will be shattered. But at least she will discover just what sort of person you really are. And that's just the start." Angela laughed as Steve lunged forward, crashing heavily to the floor when the chair toppled over.

Nodding at the man who stood behind Steve's chair to sit him back up, she waited until she had Steve's attention again before she warned him softly, "Your sister is just the beginning, Steve, if you don't do everything that I tell you to." She suddenly curled her fingers, grabbed a handful of Danny's hair, and yanked his head back violently, pressing the gun she still held hard against his head causing him to cry out in pain as she looked back coldly at Steve. "When I tell you, Williams is going to be the one who suffers, and if he dies before I am finished with you, your sister will be next!"


	7. Chapter 7

Steve saw Angela glance up and look past him as a door somewhere behind him opened. He heard at least two more people enter the room.

Still holding the fistful of Danny's hair as she held the gun hard against his head, she asked, "Did you get rid of the car?"

"Yeah, dumped it in 'Aiea Loop Trail parking lot," a young male voice answered as Steve turned his head in an attempt to see who was speaking.

"Did you wipe it clean?" Angela asked.

"We're not idiots, of course we wiped it clean. And to make sure we got rid of any evidence that we might have missed, we decided to burn because there was no one else around," the young man announced proudly as he walked further into the room and stared at the dark-haired ,man tied to the chair. He looked back up at Angela and growled, "So this is him? This is the bastard who claimed he was dad's best friend and then stabbed him in the back?"

"It's him," Angela confirmed, releasing her hold on Danny's hair and lowering her gun as her son sneered down at Steve before he turned and walked across to where his mother was waiting.

"Did you remember to get the paperwork that I told you to get from his house?" she asked him quietly as she lightly grabbed his arm and lead him across to the small table near the wall.

"Yeah," the young man answered softly as he reached beneath his shirt and pulled several sheets of paper free from where he had them tucked into the top of his jeans, handing her the handful. "A copy of his father's will, the deed to his house, property tax receipts, house insurance payment and a copy of the mortgage release, everything you told us to grab."

Placing the gun down on the table, Angela's smile morphed into a grin as she quickly perused through the paperwork.

Her son continued, "It was all in the small safe he has hidden in his closet, just as you said."

"What about the locks on the doors?"

"Changed just like you told us to do," her son answered as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of house keys, handing them to her.

"Good boy." Angela patted him on the back before she turned back toward Danny and tilted her head in his direction, ordering loudly, "Gag him and then get him ready."

"What are you going to do with him?" Steve yelled, struggling against the ropes to break free as the three men in the room moved toward Danny.

"Why Steve, that really depends on you and how well you cooperate with us," she smiled sweetly as one of the men roughly grabbed Danny's head, painfully yanking his head back as Danny protested before a a rough cloth gag was forced into his mouth and tied it tightly behind his head, silencing him. Steve could only watch as the three men quickly Danny and roughly pulled to his feet, handcuffing his hands tightly in front of in front of him, ignoring Danny's weak struggle to break free as they dragged him to the center of the room. Steve felt his breath catch in fear as he suddenly noticed the heavy chain that hung from a thick, exposed wooden ceiling beam, a hook dangling at the end.

"No, Angela, you can't!" Steve gasped as two of the men lifted Danny's arms up into the air while the third man slipped the hook beneath the handcuff chain, laughing as they stepped away quickly, leaving him hanging by the handcuffs as his legs collapsed from underneath him.

Nodding her approval, Angela turned back to Steve and said coldly, "Ohh, but that's where you're wrong, Steve, I can, just watch me." Looking back at her son, she nodded again.

Curling his hands into fists, he grinned and turned, punching Danny hard in the stomach, causing Danny to groan in pain as Angela turned back to Steve and smiled, "So let's discuss you selling your house, shall we, Steve? After all, why should you own a home after your actions caused us to lose ours?"

H50 H50 H50

Mary-Anne sat on the Hawaiian airlines plane as it winged its way towards Honolulu. She had managed to get a seat on a flight to Honolulu that left an hour after she had read the email. Wiping the tears that trickled down her face, she stared down at the phone she held tightly in her hand. What on earth was going on?It had to be someone's idea of a sick joke, but who would be sick enough to pull such a thing and why? The email said that it was from Steve, and even though it came from his email address, she knew his email had to have been hacked. Steve could or would ever be this cruel to her, or to anyone. It just wasn't him.

Reloading her emails onto her phone, her fingered hovered over the one that claimed to be from Steve. Biting her lip, she opened it again, swallowing a soft sob as she re-read its hurtful words. Why would someone want to hurt her by telling her that she was not John McGarrett's daughter, and claim to be Steve, claiming that he wanted nothing more to do with her It made absolutely no sense, but since her frantic calls to both his cell phone and to his Five 0 office went unanswered, she decided she had no other choice but to fly home and find out what was going on for herself. Closing her emails, she turned and stared out of the window, the blue sky and the blue pacific ocean beneath were her blurred by her tears.

H50 H50 H50

Looking up as the door to his real estate business opened, Fred Murray smiled as he rose from his seat. He quickly straightened his tie and smoothed down his pristine white shirt before he hurried across to the counter to greet the couple who had just entered. His smile grew as he recognized the Five 0 commander instantly, and he held out his hand to shake as he greeted the couple. "Steve, Steve McGarrett and … "

"Mary-Anne…Mary-Anne McGarrett, I'm Steve's sister," the woman smiled warmly as she pushed a strand of auburn hair that fell across her face back behind her ear before she reached for his hand and shook it.

"Miss McGarrett," Fred smiled politely, taking her hand and giving it a quick shake before he pulled his hand away and returned his attention back to Steve. "So, Commander, what can I do for you today?"

Swallowing hard, Steve forced himself to smile as he announced, "We have decided to take your advice about how good the real estate market is at the moment to sell and after talking about it, we have decided to put dad's house on the market."

The real estate agent blinked in surprise, uncertain if McGarrett was really serious or not. He had suggested a couple of times when their paths had crossed that Steve should consider placing his home on the market after the murder of his father, but Steve had always laughed his suggestion off, stating that he would never sell the house that he now owned with his sister, that it was their family home. "Are you sure you want to sell your house?" he asked again, making sure he had heard what the Five 0 commander had said correctly.

When Steve nodded his affirmation, Fred grinned and waved his arm toward his desk and the two chairs that sat in front of it. He invited Steve and Angela to sit before he hurried across and sat down in his seat, eager to get the ball rolling before the Five 0 commander or his sister changed their minds. "Well then, shall we get started?"


	8. Chapter 8

Staring at the smoking charred remnants of what was one a blue Mazda Infiniti as the firemen finished dampening it down, Kono sighed. The chances of getting any helpful evidence or clues to Danny’s disappearance or even Steve’s current whereabouts had gone up in smoke. The car was now nothing more than just a smouldering heap of wet soot and charred metal, nothing had survived the intense fire that had engulfed it. And all of the witnesses she had interviewed had only arrived after the car was set on fire, no one had seen who had driven it to the parking lot or had seen who had set it alight.

She swallowed hard as she turned and looked around the parking lot one more time hoping that there was at least one security camera that might have caught something but finding none. Turning back towards the burned out shell of a car sighed again, they were no closer finding Steve or finding out what had happened to Danny than they had been almost five hours before when Steve had given Chin his badge and gun with the shock announcement that he was resigning from Five 0. Whoever was behind Danny’s disappearance and Steve’s resignation, had it well planned right down to the smallest detail, leaving them with nothing or very little to go on.

Spinning around as she heard her cousin call her name, she watched him hurry across to where she was standing.

“Everyone I have spoken to said they arrived back to the parking lot after the car was set alight. No one saw the car arrive or who was driving it,” she began.

“And it doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to get anything useful from the car, either,” Chin murmured as he stared at the smoking remains before he looked back at Kono and gently grabbed her arm, sidestepping around two HPD officers and a couple of fireman as he led her back towards their car, “But we might have got a break. Joe White just called, he said that he found the phone Steve tossed at lookout. It seems that Steve threw the phone over the edge of the lookout, it got caught in the branches of a small bush that is growing right on the edge of the cliff. He wants to meet us back at the forensic lab. He says he's got something important that he needs to show us.”

H50 H50 H50

Resisting the urge to retaliate as he was pushed, unceremoniously, into the small, bare room, Steve quickly turned around as he heard the door slam shut behind him and he heard the key turn in the lock, locking him in. Turning back around, he slowly looked around the empty, damp room searching for something, anything, that could he could use as a weapon to escape with Danny if the opportunity arose. The paint on the brick walls was faded and peeling, the floor was just rough bare cement, and what once appeared to have been a window appeared to have been bricked up. A single naked light bulb was suspended just a couple of inches below the ceiling cast a weak light that did not quite reach the corners, only added to the hopelessness and the gloomy atmosphere of the room.

He spun around as the door opened and Danny was thrust into the room before the door slammed closed again. The key turning in the lock echoed through the tiny room as Danny stumbled and fell to his knees.

"Danny!" Steve gasped, rushing across to his partner's side., managing to catch Danny in his arms before Danny collapsed completely onto the hard-unforgiving ground. Gently easing Danny onto the ground, his chest tightening as he heard Danny gasp in pain as he gently rolled him over onto his back. He swallowed hard as he saw the bruises that marred Danny's face, chest, and stomach - bruises that he had been responsible for. Danny's hands were still handcuffed in front of him, his wrists bruised and bloody from where the metal bracelets had cut his wrists when he was hung.

"Steve?" Danny asked softly as he squinted up at the familiar face above him.

"Yeah Danny, it's me," Steve whispered through his tightened throat, grabbing Danny’s hand as Danny reached for him, before giving it a light comforting squeeze.

“I’m sorry that…she made you…” Danny whispered.

“Sell the house?” Steve finished for him, quickly unbuttoning Danny’s shirt, exposing the bloody bullet hole in his shoulder as Danny nodded weakly. “Its only a house, Danny, you’re more important to me than any house.” Steve told him softly as he began to examine the bloody bullet wound in Danny's shoulder. Steve felt his heart miss a beat as he used the bottom of his shirt in an attempt to wipe some of the blood away, revealing the jagged and bloody hole. The torn and bruised the skin surrounding it told him instantly that the bitch had used the bullet wound as an instrument of torture. The wound had been torn open, probably to to force Danny to scream after he had demanded proof of life during their phone call.

"Owww," Danny groaned as he arched his back in pain and tried to pull away from Steve's gentle touch.

"Easy Buddy, I’m just trying to take care of your shoulder." Steve murmured as he quickly scanned the room, searching for anything he could use to hopefully place enough pressure on the wound to slow the bleeding when he bandaged it. He was unable to stop the small chuckle that escaped from his lips as he heard Danny mutter through clenched teeth, "Now you think… you’re ...a doctor!"

Finding nothing in the empty room that he could use, Steve unbuttoned his shirt, quickly shrugging it off before tearing it into long strips as he looked down at his friend and corrected him, “Doctors are called medical officers in the navy, Danny.” Folding one of the strips of cloth into a temporary dressing, he apologized as he pressed the makeshift dressing against the bullet wound, “This is going to hurt, Buddy, but I’ve got to try and slow the bleeding.” 

Danny cried out in pain as he pressed the makeshift dressing against the bullet wound. Sitting Danny up and leaning him against his chest to support him, Steve quickly using the rest of the strips of material to bandage Danny’s shoulder.

When he had finally finished with the crude bandaging, he gently eased Danny back down before covering him with the remnants of his torn shirt as he looked down into Danny's damp, ashen face and whispered, "You still with me, Buddy?"

Biting the inside of his cheek in an attempt not to moan as fiery white-hot bolts of pain radiated out from his shoulder, down his arm, and through his chest, Danny opened his eyes, blinked away the tears, and nodded. Taking a trembling breath, he looked up at Steve and asked, "Who…who… is she, Steve?"

Glancing toward the door before looking back at his partner, Steve was disheartened to see spots of red already appearing on his makeshift dressing. Almost reluctantly, he answered softly, "Angela, Angela Hawkins. Her husband, Shawn, and I trained as Navy SEALs together and we became good friends. We later were involved in a few ops together.”

“She said something … about you testifying…at his court-martial?"

Steve nodded, “Shawn and I were both part of a black-op to take down a Mexican drug cartel just out on the outskirts of Mexico City. Only, Shawn got greedy and decided to use the op to make himself a little money by ripping off the drug lord during the operation. He killed three people he was supposed to be guarding that night, including a two-year-old boy, trying to force the adults to tell him about a rumored drug shipment that the drug lord had already dispatched before we realized in all the confusion what he was doing 

He received a dishonourable discharge and twenty years in Leavenworth because of my testimony … Which meant a complete loss of his pension or any financial support from the Navy to Angela and their two boys.” Steve swallowed hard, "And as it turns out, the twenty years in Leavenworth ended up turning into a death sentence for Shawn…"

"And…now she wants to … punish you." Danny panted breathlessly, swallowing a moan.

Steve nodded, “And she has decided to use you to do it.”

Blinking away the darkness that hovered around the edges of his consciousness, beckoning him with the promise no pain, Danny grabbed Steve's arm, ensuring he had Steve’s full attention before he licked his dry lips and whispered, "If you … get a… chance to escape, promise me… Steve, you will… take it. Don’t…Don’t let her use me… to force you…to do what…she wants.”

"No, Danny, we’re going to get out of this together Danny! I’m not going to leave you behind.” Steve shook his head, horrified that Danny would even consider him leaving him behind.

“But she wants to…destroy you… Steve… she wants you…to lose everything … and she’s using me to -”

“Listen, Danny, I don’t care about losing the house, resigning from Five 0, or doing anything else she wants me to do,” Steve told him, “Not if it means saving your life. You’re more important to me than any of those things.”

"No…promise … me, Steve…Don't let her...use me against you...Don't let...her win... I need you...to take care of ...Grace...for me..." Danny begged as his eyes drifted closed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter today but I promise tomorrow's will be much longer to make up for it.

Hurrying across to Charlie Fong’s work bench in the forensic lab where Charlie and Joe were standing, taking turns to study something under the microscope, Chin asked, “You said you had something to show us?”

Looking up from the microscope, Joe smiled. “Two things actually which could explain why Steve didn’t try to tell anyone what was going on.”

Picking up a small, square black plastic box, that was encased in a clear plastic evidence bag, from where it was laying on the bench, Charlie handed across to Chin as he began to explain. “I found this when I examined Steve’s truck. It was placed under the truck.”

“It’s a tracking device.” Chin breathed, instantly recognizing the object as he turned the small box, he was holding in his hand, over, studying it.

Joe nodded.

Looking over Chin’s shoulder at the black box he held in his hands, Kono looked up at the forensic specialist and frowned, “So, someone was tracking him?”

Charlie nodded as he reached for Steve’s phone that was also encased in a clear plastic evidence bag and handed it to Kono as he continued, “And listening into all his conversations. I discovered someone had installed a program that allowed them to turn on the phone’s microphone and listen into all his conversations and phone calls. They also had the GPS activated.”

“And if they warned Steve that they were listening to everything he said-” Kono began.

“There’s no way he would take the risk of telling us about what was happening, especially if who ever is behind this threatened Danny’s life if he did.” Chin finished for her. 

Charlie nodded his agreement he took the tracking box from Chin, placing it back down on his working bench. “So, on a hunch, I went back and carried out another meticulous and thorough search of Steve’s truck and I found this.” Removing the item that he and Joe had been studying under the microscope, Charlie picked up a third, much smaller, evidence bag and slipped the small computer micro-card, sealing it before handing it across to Chin, who frowned as he began to examine it. “Its another listening device. It was hidden in the air vent.”

"Probably as a back-up, in case Steve managed to disable his phone.” Joe suggested.

“Which could mean that maybe they also bugged the Five 0 offices," Chin breathed as he stared down at the tiny computer card he held in his hand. "That would explain how they knew Steve's every move.” Looking back down at the small envelope he held in his hand, Chin asked, “Anyway you can find you can trace the signal back to the source?”

Charlie shook his head, “Who ever planted this one deactivated it, probably after Steve left his truck.”

Joe frowned as he stared at the small device in Chin’s hands before he looked back up at Chin and suggested, “If whoever is behind this planted this one in Steve’s car as a back-up -”

“Then maybe they have planted more at the palace.” Kono finished his thought.

Charlie nodded his agreement as he looked first at Kono before returning his attention back to Chin, “I could do an electronic sweep of the Five 0 offices if you want me to."

"Do it," Chin ordered. "And then I want you to search Danny’s, Kono’s and my cars."

Nodding, Charlie turned and grabbed an electronic device that looked like it belonged more in a science fiction movie than a police forensic lab. "Okay, I'm ready."


	10. Chapter 10

Brushing away a tear as she re-read the email that she must have read over one hundred times during the five and half hour flight to get here again on her phone, Mary looked up, startled, as the cab jerked to a stop in front of the house. She found herself staring in shock at the large FOR SALE sign prominently displayed in the front yard near the sidewalk.

“Miss, are you going to pay me or do you want me to wait?”

She jumped in surprise as the cab driver’s gruff voice broke through her shock and she looked back at him to find him turned in his seat, staring at her as he waited impatiently for an answer. She suspected by the annoyed look on his face that it wasn’t the first time he had asked her that question.

“Umm, can you wait for a few minutes, please?” She asked softly as she reached for the door handle and opened the door. Climbing out of the cab, she unconsciously closed her email app and slipped her phone into pocket as she slowly walked across to the sign and stared at the smiling face of Fred Murray who appeared to be waving his hand in the direction of the house as if he was inviting potential buyers to come in and look around. Her confusion grew as she looked back up at the silent house, unsure after receiving the email, if this was not some type of a poor joke that Steve was playing or if the sign was real.

Turning, she ran to the front door, digging through her handbag until she found her keys. Quickly selecting the right key, she slipped it into the lock, frowning when the lock refused to turn. She tried several more times before she ran around the back of the house and tried her housekey there only to be discover that key did not work either. Steve must have changed the locks. Frustrated and angry, she began to bang on the door with her fists, shouting for Steve to open the door but her knocks were met with silence.

Turning, she ran back around the house and climbed back into the cab, slamming the door as she asked the driver to take her to the palace. She wasn’t sure just what was going on but she was going to find out just what the hell Steve thought he was doing!

H50 H50 H50

Holding his finger up to his lips in a silent order for the others not to speak, Charlie flicked the switch on the bug detector he held in his hand before he entering Steve's office and looking around, trying to decide where, if he were to plant a small listening device, he would plant it. A small smile graced his lips as he stared at the desk, it was the most logical but also the most obvious place to hide it.

Standing in the doorway, Chin, Kono and Joe watched as Charlie hesitated and looked around. He crossed to Steve's desk and began to carefully and slowly glide the small machine he held just above the surface of the desk and the items that were sitting upon it. Chin held his breath in anticipation as the smile on Charlie's face grew into an excited grin as he hovered the detector over the small framed photo of Mary and Steve that sat near his laptop.

Gently placing the detector down onto the desk, Charlie looked across at Chin and titled his head toward the photo, carefully picking it up and examining it closely. Chin crossed the room and looked over his shoulder. Turning the photo over, Charlie's grin grew as he examined the back of the frame closely, looking back triumphantly toward them. The forensic scientist's grin reminded Kono of the grin she had seen on the disappearing cat in the Alice in Wonderland movie that she had often watched as a child. Charlie pointed toward the small metal disc glued to the back of the frame, hidden from view by the small stand that allowed the frame to sit upright and mouthed, "Got ya!"

Chin nodded as Charlie carefully placed the photo back down before he continued to search the room for any more listening devices with the detector, searching under and over the furniture in the room. When he finished with that, he placed the detector back down on the desk and before he turned on the laptop and typed in a command as Chin watched over his shoulder. He ran his finger down the list of start-up programs that appeared on the screen, pausing his finger against one as he turned and looked at Chin.

Chin nodded, instantly recognizing the program to remotely turn on both the camera and microphone as soon as the laptop was started as he ran his finger lightly across is throat in a silent order for Charlie to turn the laptop off.

Satisfied there were no more devices to be found in the office, Charlie nodded towards the door before he followed Chin, Joe and Kono out of the office, closing the door firmly behind him. Holding his hand up for silence, he turned and led them out of the Five 0 offices. Waiting until the glass doors swooshed closed, shook he head in disbelief, “Who knows how long whoever is behind this has been watching and listening to everything Steve has been saying and doing.”

Glancing at Kono, Joe gently corrected her, “Steve’s probably not the only one they have been watching.”

“Do you think they have bugged all of us?” Kono asked, glancing back through the glass doors into the Five 0 offices.

“Could explain how they knew that Danny was here alone last night.” Chin said softly.

“I’ll finish sweeping the offices for any more listening devices and all the laptops and computers anymore surveillance programmes. The program should have a timestamp of when it was installed.” Charlie told them.

Chin nodded as Charlie turned and re-entered the offices, before he turned to his cousin and ordered, “Kono, find out who has had full access to our offices, including Steve's office during the last few weeks. Maybe someone who would be able to move around the pen and Steve's office unsupervised and if anyone else was around, unnoticed."

"Someone like an HPD officer?” Joe frowned.

“Or maybe a cleaner?” Kono frowned.

Chin nodded his head as he glanced back at Steve's office. Whoever had planted the bugs would have had to have been able to have unfettered access to Steve’s office and the bullpen and any other of our offices, without arousing Steve's suspicions or the suspicions of anyone else who might have been around. "Also check out any maintenance staff who has had access to the Five 0 offices during the last four weeks. I want a full background check on them and if there is any connection, no matter how small, between them and Steve or Danny."

“Will do,” Kono nodded as she turned and headed towards the ornate Koa staircase that led down to the lobby. She stopped when she reached the top of the stairs as she saw Mary hurrying up the stairs towards her. “Mary, what are you doing here, we thought you were-” she began, unable to hide her surprise at seeing Mary.

“Is Steve in his office?” Mary demanded, angrily. 


	11. Chapter 11

"Where's Steve?" Mary demanded again as she hurried along the corridor towards where Chin and Joe were standing, outside the Five 0 offices.

“Mary!” Chin exclaimed in surprise, spinning around as Mary reached them. “I thought that you were on -”

“The mainland.” Chin nodded as Mary reached for her phone and loaded her emails, clicking on the one she had received from Steve. “I was, until I got this e-mail from Steve, this morning!" she told him, her voice cracking a little, despite the anger she was feeling, as she handed it across to Chin.

Chin quickly read the email before he looked back up at Mary, shocked at what he had just read as he handed the phone across to Joe. "Steve sent that?”

Shaking her head, Mary answered, "It says it’s from his email account but…” Mary swallowed hard, “But when he didn’t answer my phone calls or messages and after what the e-mail said, I wanted to find out what was going on, and what, if he had sent the e-mail, did I do so wrong.” She swallowed hard, failing to stop a tear from trickling down her face, “So, I got on the next flight that I could to find out what is going on but when I got home I discovered that Steve has changed all the locks and there’s a For Sale sign in the front yard.” Looking around, she realized that they were standing outside of the Five 0 offices and neither Steve or Danny were around.

“You said there’s a For Sale sign outside the house?” Chin frowned, casting a quick glance at Joe who looked up at Mary before quickly returning his attention back to Steve’s distraught sister.

Mary nodded as she looked back at Chin, “And the locks are changed. So, where is he?

"We’re not sure. He came in this morning and quit…"

Mary’s eyes went wide in shock as she gasped "Quit?! He quit Five 0?"

Chin nodded. "That was pretty much my reaction as well. He never said why, but I suspect that his quitting, sending you that e-mail and putting the house up for sale has something to do with Danny’s disappearance this morning.”

“Danny’s missing?” Mary asked softly, as she looked through the glass doors, realizing for the first time that they were having this discussion out in the corridor and not in the Five 0 offices where Charlie was now working.

“We believe that Danny was grabbed sometime this morning while he was alone in the office and someone is using him to force Steve to do what they want, like sending you that e-mail and selling the house.” Joe told her.

“I don’t understand.” Mary frowned confused, “Why would anyone do something like this? Why would someone kidnap Danny to force Steve to quit Five 0 and then email me to hurt me like that? And then try and make him sell the house -”

“It’s got to be personal. Maybe someone with a grudge.” Joe surmised as he handed Mary back her phone.

“You said there was a For Sale sign outside the house?” Chin asked Mary softly.

Mary nodded.

“Do you know what real estate has the house listed?”

Mary nodded again, “Um yeah, it was one of Fred Murray’s signs. He has an agency not far from our house."

"What are you thinking?" Joe asked.

"In order to get that house listed, Steve would have to do it himself, provide all the paperwork. That tells me that the real estate agent who took the listing for the house agent saw him...and maybe saw our kidnapper. Without Steve’s phone, they might not have been able to listen into the conversation or make sure to make sure he said the right things or didn’t try tipping anyone of. So, I’m thinking, to be able to keep control over the situation-”

“The kidnapper might have gone with him.” Joe finished for him, realizing where Chin’s theory was headed.

“Or maybe would have been close enough keep an eye on proceedings.” Chin nodded.

"Maybe we should pay Mr. Murray a visit.” Mary suggested as she turned and headed towards the stairs.

Gently grabbing her arm, Chin stopped her egress, “Maybe you should wait here in Steve’s office. We don’t know after everything that has happened with them making Steve email you and being made to put yours and his house up for sale if whoever is behind this just has Steve or both of you in his sights.”

H50 H50 H50

Looking up from his computer as the door to his real estate office opened and two men entered, Fred Murray quickly stood up and smiled as he quickly crossed to greet them as they reached the counter. "Good afternoon, Folks! How can I help you today? Looking for a new house or putting yours on the market?"

“We’re not in the market to buy or sell a house, I’m afraid.” Showing the real estate owner his Five 0 badge, Chin quickly introduced himself. “I’m Lieutenant Kelly, Five 0 and we would like to ask you a couple of questions."

"Oh," Murray said, shocked to have Five 0 officers in his office wanting to ask him questions. Waving the two men towards the two seats in front of his desk, he invited them. "Please, have a seat. "Waiting until they took a seat, he hurried around to his own chair and sat down before clearing his throat nervously and asking them, "Now, just what can I help you gentlemen with?"

“We understand that you have just listed a house for sale- a house belonging to Commander Steve McGarrett.” Chin began.

Murray smiled and nodded. "Oh yes, Commander McGarrett. He only gave me the listing a couple of hours ago actually. To be quite honest, I was surprised to see him. I have discussed selling his property with him after his father died but he was never interested. But today he came in, wanting to sell it."

“Did he say why?” Joe asked quietly.

The grey-haired realtor shrugged, “Not really, just said that he wanted to put the house on the market and that he would be open to any reasonable offers.

"Was he with anyone?" Chin frowned.

"Yes, he was with his sister."

“His sister, are you sure?”

Nodding his head, Murray answered, “He introduced her as his sister, I think he called her Melody...Mary...Mary-Anne, that’s it, he called her Mary Anne.”

“Mary- Anne are you sure?” Joe asked, glancing at Chin before returning his attention back to the realtor.

“Oh, quite sure.” Murray answered as he quickly typed something on the keyboard in front of him before looking up at the screen. “Yes, here it is, her name is Mary- Anne. She owns half of the house. Although I had the impression that she was more eager to sell than he was.”

“How so?’ Chin asked.

"I've been in this business long enough that I have seen all degrees of willingness to part with a property. And Commander McGarrett just did not seem ready to sell. I got this feeling that his sister was somehow pushing him into it."

“Can you describe her?”

Murray frowned at the strange request before he shrugged and answered, "Sure, if you think it would help your investigation. She was a bit of a looker, although please don’t tell my wife that I ever said that, a bit older than Commander McGarrett, maybe by about ten years. Maybe five' seven”, five' eight", although she did have heels on. And her hair was sort of an auburn color, though…"

"Though what?" Joe pushed.

"Well, I know ladies can be a little self-conscious and it’s not the sort of thing you normally see a lady wear these days. At least not one as obvious as this one was but it looked like she was wearing a wig. One of those long wigs that little girls wear at Halloween. I'm certainly no fashion expert, but when my wife had cancer, she lost her hair during chemo and chose to wear a wig. Her biggest thing was making sure it didn't look like a wig. This lady's...well, it was easy to tell, almost looked like she put it on too quickly."

"Could you describe her to a police sketch artist?" Joe asked.

"Sure,” Murray readily agreed before his frown deepened, "but I don’t understand, why?”

“We believe the woman who accompanied Commander McGarrett today to your office was not his sister and may be involved in the kidnapping of a Five 0 officer.” Chin told him as he rose to his feet. "Now if you wouldn't mind accompanying us back to the palace."

“Oh, dear, of course.” Murray gasped, shocked as he rose to his own feet, slightly flustered by the information. “I’m afraid that my office girl is out sick for the day and my partner is on holidays but if you give me a couple of minutes to lock up -” as he reached to turn off his computer.

“Wait,” Chin said, “When they asked you to sell the house, they must have signed a contract and left you a contact number, in case you needed to get in contact with them if you had an interested buyer.”

“Of course,” Murray nodded, “All the contact details are on the sale contract.”

“We would like to get a copy of that as well before we go, if we could.” Chin asked politely.

“Of course, anything you need.” Murray nodded as he brought the contract up on the screen and hit the print button.


	12. Chapter 12

Staring at the police artist's computer composite drawing of the woman who had escorted Steve to the realtor, Joe frowned. The face was strangely familiar, but he wasn't certain if it was because he knew her or if it was because the face looked like the faces of hundreds of women whom he passed in the streets every day. The only thing about the woman that made her just that little bit different from those women, with the exception of the childish wig she had worn, were her eyes. The eyes were captivating, almost hypnotic as they stared at him from of the large computer screen.

He rubbed the back of his neck as he continued to stare at the image in frustration as other faces on the screen flashed in front of him as the image was being run through facial recognition. Looking across at Mary, who was standing quietly beside Chin, staring up at the face of the woman whom they believed held Steve and Danny, he asked, "Does she remind you of anyone you know?"

Mary frowned as she carefully studied the image on the screen before shrugging and looking back at Joe. "No, should she?"

Joe shrugged, glancing back up at the screen again just as the recognition program flashed up a message that the no match had been found "No…I guess not. I just can't shake the feeling I have seen her somewhere before." He shook his head, “I just don’t know when or where.”

"Well, whoever she is, we know that she’s smart and careful. She’s not in the system at all. No driver’s licence, no passport, not even a ticket for jaywalking,” Chin frowned as he stared up at the composite photo before he looked back at Joe. “But maybe she’s not as clever as she wants us to think.

"How so?" Joe asked, frowning.

"We know, for whatever reason, that she is trying to force Steve to sell his house.” Chin began.

Mary and Joe nodded their agreement as Mary asked, a little confused on where Chin was going, “So?”

“What if there was a buyer who is interested in buying it?" Chin said slowly as the idea began to solidify in his mind.

"A buyer?” Mary’s confusion grew, “I don't understand."

"Well, what if the interested buyer wants to talk to the owner first about the house before he considers putting in an offer…" Chin continued.

"It would have to be someone that she wouldn’t know or recognize…" Joe nodded slowly as he realized what just what Chin was planning.

"Yeah… someone like, oh...let’s say Grover."

"Lou Grover, the guy from SWAT?" Joe frowned, remembering the animosity between Steve and the other men one the couple of times he had met the SWAT leader before he smiled and nodded. "Yeah, yeah that might just work, especially if he can get Steve alone for a couple of minutes."

"I’ll give Grover and the realtor a call.” Chin announced pulling his phone free from his pocket and hitting a button that connected him directly to the SWAT captain. “Let's see how fast we can get this set up."

H50 H50 H50

Fred Murray nervously accepted the cell phone that the Five 0 lieutenant handed him and began to tap in the phone number he had been given to contact the woman he now knew was a kidnapper. He swallowed hard as he listened the phone ring on the other end. He jumped as he heard the woman’s voice answer over the speaker, " _Hello?"_

Fred gulped as he saw the lieutenant hit several keys on the large computer desk they were standing at and nod for him to speak. Clearing his throat and hoping that his nervousness was not evident in his voice, he forced himself to speak, "Miss McGarrett? This is Fred Murray, your realtor."

" _Oh, Mr. Murray.”_ He heard her hesitate for a moment before she asked, anxiously, _“There isn't a problem with the house I hope?"_

"No, no, on the contrary,” he rushed to reassure her,” Actually, I am calling to let you know I have someone interested in the property."

" _Already?"_ He felt his heart go up into his mouth as he heard a hint of disbelief and doubt in her voice. " _That's wonderful!"_ she announced excitedly a heartbeat later, making him jump as she rushed on, " _When can we sign the papers?"_

"Um, not so fast, Miss McGarrett. This person would like to meet with Commander McGarrett to discuss the property's history, and issues it may have…"

" _I'll meet with him,"_ she interrupted.

Sweat began to form on his forehead as he looked anxiously across at the lieutenant who shook his head vigorously and mouthed, ‘No’. Returning his attention back to the phone, he hoped his voice sounded normal as he told her, "Well...you see, I was under the impression that you haven't lived in the house, and my client would really like to deeply discuss the ins and outs of the property. He specifically asked to speak with the owner who is currently living there. I’m afraid that he won’t accept speaking to anyone else.” _Please let that work, please let that work,_ he prayed silently as he waited for her answer.

He heard her sigh audibly through the phone’s speaker before she muttered in annoyance, " _Alright, fine. When should we be there?"_

“I can bring the client around in about an hour. I mean if that suits you and your brother?”

 _“We will be there.”_ He heard her say a moment before the phone went dead. Letting out a relieved breath he looked up at the two men who were standing on the other side of the table. “How did I do?” he asked anxiously

“You did well.” Joe smiled reassuringly before he looked at Chin who frowned as he looked up and studied a map that had red dots lit up on the computer screen.

“She has the phone signal bouncing of multiple towers. There’s no way to find out just where she is.” Chin looked at Joe and sighed.” Now all we can hope is that she leaves Steve alone long enough with Grover to find out what’s going on and where she is holding them.”


	13. Chapter 13

Hitting the disconnect button, Angela swore as she threw the phone down onto the table. Turning, she picked up the wig she had worn earlier and quickly placed it back on her head before angrily stuffing several errant strands of her own hair beneath it.

David Hawkins jumped as he watched his mother snatch up the pair of handcuffs that had been left on the table before she turned and headed towards the basement door. “What’s wrong?” he asked her timidly, fearful that her anger would be turned against himself.

“What’s wrong? Did you just ask what’s wrong?” She hissed as she swung around and glared at him.

Taking a small unconscious step backwards, David swallowed hard and nodded.

“I’ll tell you what the Hell is wrong! The realtor has a buyer for the house!”

“But that’s a good thing isn’t it?” David asked confused as to why this had placed his mother into a such a rage, “I mean, that’s what you wanted- to sell the house as fast as we could, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was,” she growled, “But the damn buyer who is interested in the house wants to speak to McGarrett before he commits.”

“But why?” David asked, his confusion growing.

“The damn realtor claims the damn buyer wants a detailed history about the maintenance of the house and he wants it straight from McGarrett because he has been living there while his damn sister has been living it up on the mainland, that’s why!”

“Are you sure its not a set up by the cops? I mean, they have to know that Williams is missing now and that McGarrett resigning from Five 0 has something to do with that. What if they have discovered he has put the house up for sale today as well?”

“Well if it is, then I want Williams taken care off, got it?”

“You don’t mean?” David swallowed hard, glancing across at Tommy who was standing near the door looking just as shocked as he was by his mother’s order.

“No, I want you to take him to dinner and then dancing afterwards! What the Hell do you think? Yes, if this is a damn set-up, I want him to be the first one to die!” she ordered coldly before she turned and headed towards the basement door as she growled over her shoulder, “So come on, help me get McGarrett ready, we have less than an hour to get there and be ready for the buyer!” 

H50 H50 H50

"But your house, Steve…" Danny panted weakly as he watched Steve tear another strip off his shirt and fold it into a dressing.

"Is worth less than your life. I told you before Buddy, it's just a house and you are more important to me than any house, Danny.” Steve sighed as he stared at the blood-soaked piece of material that he had used to bandaged Danny’s shoulder before he had been dragged to the real estate by Angela to list his house.

Danny whispered through gritted teeth trying hard not to moan as Steve gently lifted the edge of the bandage and slipped the newly made cloth dressing over the other one that covered the wound in his shoulder. "It’s your home…its where …you grew… up…."

“But you know what, Buddy? All those memories, there all up here," Steve told him, using his right index finger to tap his temple before he gently eased Danny back down onto the floor and covered him up with the remains of his shirt. "They'll always be in here whether I'm in that house or not. Plus, truth be told, sometimes that big place gets lonely. Downsizing might not be so bad,” he forced a smile. “or maybe I’ll move in with you."

Danny’s soft snort of disbelief morphed into a soft moan and he closed his eyes, allowing himself to drift into the pain-free darkness that promised him a temporary escape from the pain that seemed to radiate from every part of his body from not only the bullet in his shoulder but also the beating he had endured.

Studying Danny’s pale, damp, pain pinched face as it slowly relaxed and Danny’s head rolled to the side as he lost consciousness, Steve swallowed hard as a pang of guilt lanced through his soul. Swallowing hard, not hearing the key turn in the door behind him, he grabbed Danny’s hand as he promised Danny softly, "That we’re going to get out of this, together, Danny, but I need you to try and hang on just a little longer, Buddy."

“Aw, ain’t that sweet!” Angela laughed as Steve jumped in surprise and spun around to face her, eyeing the two men standing behind her, their guns trained on Danny’s unconscious body as she growled, “Okay enough of the chitchat. Now get up. I have another assignment for you." Staring at the remains of Steve’s shirt that was covering Danny, she turned towards David and ordered, “He’s gunna need another damn shirt!” Turning back to eye Steve for a moment, she turned back and added, “One of Jordan’s shirts should do.” Turning back to Steve as David left the room, she continued, “I just got a call from our realtor. It seems that we have a buyer already who is interested in the house but for some damn reason, they will only talk to you.” Turning as she heard David return into the room, she snatched the shirt he was holding out of his hands, before she turned back around and threw it at Steve as she ordered, “So, get up and put that on ‘cause we're going home, brother.”

Watching Steve slowly rise to his feet and slowly shrug into the tight tee-shirt, she warned him. “And be warned, if you do anything suspicious, he gets another beating. Tell the realtor or buyer something to tip them off? Beating. Send some kind of signal? Beating."

"And you'll be watching my every move.” Steve finished softly for her.

"You're finally catching on, Steven." She smiled coldly as she grabbed his arm and spun him around before handcuffed his hands tightly behind him before blindfolding him and nodding towards David. “And you better hope that this is not a set-up, ‘cause if it is- Williams is dead!” She told him as David roughly grabbed his arm and led him from the basement.

H50 H50 H50

Straightening his tie for the umpteen time before spitting on his hand and running it nervously over his thinning hair to try and hide the bald spot that threatened to peek out on the top his head, Fred smiled weakly as he looked across at the man driving the car. "I bet you do this kind of stuff all the time."

"No, 'fraid it's the first time for me as well; they usually keep me locked up in an office." Lou smiled and shook his head before he added confidentially, "But from what I heard about how well you did setting up this meeting, I have full confidence in you being able to do this."

"Glad one of us does," Fred muttered softly as he straightened his tie again.

"You'll do great." Lou smiled as he parked the car outside Steve's home and turned towards the nervous man sitting next to him. "Just remember that I need a few minutes alone with the commander, so I will need you to keep the woman distracted for me."

Fred swallowed hard and nodded, "I'll try, but I can't promise for how long."

"As long as you can will be fine," Lou reassured him softly as he reached for the door handle. "Ready?"

"I guess I'm as ready as I will ever be." Fred breathed quietly as he opened the car door and climbed out before he led Lou to Steve's front door. After knocking lightly, he glanced quickly at the HPD SWAT officer beside him as he heard the murmur of voices inside, closely followed by footsteps coming to the door. Lou nodded confidently at him again, and he drew a deep breath as the door opened and he found himself staring at Angela. Forcing his famous house selling smile, he cleared his throat and made the introductions. "Good afternoon Ms. McGarrett, may I introduce you to Mr. Thompson, the gentleman I spoke to you about earlier."

"Oh, of course, the gentleman who is interested in buying the house. Please, come in." Angela smiled politely as she ushered the two men inside.

"Thank you." Lou nodded as he followed Fred into the house and glanced around.

Reluctantly joining Angela at the door as she stepped aside to allow the two men to enter, Steve forced his face to remain neutral as he instantly recognized the 'buyer'. Holding out his hand, he shook Lou's hand as Angela excitedly made the introductions. "Steve, this is Mr. Thompson, the man Mr. Murray called us about who is interested in buying the house." Turning back to Lou, she rushed on, "Mr. Thompson, this is my brother Michael; he owns the home."

"Mr. McGarrett." Lou nodded distractedly, shaking Steve's hand as he continued to look around the living room. Returning his attention back to Steve and Angela, Lou apologized profusely, "I'm so sorry for being so rude, but this house seems to be just what I am looking for. Right location and from my first impressions, well looked after. I wonder if you would mind showing me around?"

"Of course." Angela grinned, instantly relaxing as her initial suspicion about how fast the house had attracted a potential buyer melted away. Thompson seemed genuinely interested in buying the house. "Please come this way. Shall we start with the bedrooms upstairs?"

"Yes, please," Lou agreed as Angela grabbed Steve's arm before she turned and began to lead the way. Placing his hand lightly on Steve's back, Lou could feel the tension beneath his hand as he followed her up the stairs with the anxious realtor only a few steps behind.

Watching the woman closely as she led him from room to room, Lou quickly realized what a dangerous woman they were dealing with. Although she seemed to have bought the story that he was a buyer, she still had an aura of paranoia about her, constantly controlling the conversation and everything Steve said or did. More disturbing was the fact that the mask of self-control and friendliness was firmly in place, but he could still see the seething rage and hatred directed towards Steve in her eyes each time she looked at him.

Glancing towards the Five 0 leader, Lou could easily see the tension Steve was under; the man looked like he was walking with through a minefield, fearing some sort of explosion with each step he took. He looked like he had aged ten years in the last few hours, and there was a haunted look in his eyes each time he looked at Lou that told the SWAT captain more about the stress and the fear he was now enduring far louder than words ever could.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw the 'for sale' sign outside when I drove past earlier." Lou grinned as they re-entered the living room after Angela's tour of the house. "It seems like just the type of house I have been searching for."

"So, you're interested?" Angela asked eagerly as she turned back around to face him.

"Very," Lou answered. "But first there are a few questions about the house's history, any electrical, wiring or plumbing problems etc., that I would like to ask about before I make any decisions." Lou saw the look of suspicion instantly return to Angela's face before he shrugged apologetically and added, "You see I bought another house a few months ago to rent out, and didn't ask any of these questions before I bought it…and well…let's just say it ended up costing me more to fix all the problems and get the house up to code than the house originally cost."

Biting her bottom lip, Angela nodded slowly, accepting the explanation as Fred lightly grabbed her arm and whispered into her ear, "Why don't we leave Steve and Mr. Thompson alone to talk while we go into the kitchen. I need to talk to you about the price you have on the house. Maybe we could look at increasing it just a little, especially with the interest the house has generated so far since putting it on the market today. I may have another potential buyer…"

Turning to look at the realtor, Angela grinned as the thought of being able to sell the house for more than she had originally planned spiked her interest. Looking back at Lou, she politely excused herself, saying that she would leave them to talk.

Lou did not miss the silent warning look she cast at Steve before she turned and left the room, headed towards the kitchen with Fred trailing behind her.

Watching Fred and Angela leave the living room, Steve turned back to Lou after he was certain he could not be overheard and whispered, "Lou, what are you doing here? How…?"

Grabbing Steve’s arm, Lou glanced towards the kitchen to reassure himself that Angela was currently occupied and would not be listening before he turned back to Lou and softly answered, "Your sister- Mary."

"Mary?" Steve asked anxiously, his heart sinking as he remembered the e-mail that Angela had told him she had sent Mary. "The e-mail?" Lou nodded as Steve swallowed hard and asked, "Did she believe it?"

"She's your sister, McGarrett, what do you think?" Lou quickly reassured the upset man, seeing some of the tension leave Steve's face as he rushed on. "She came home to find out what was going on and found the house for sale and went straight to the palace to find out what was going on. Chin knew that your behavior and disappearance was connected to whatever happened to Williams. Your sister discovering the house was for sale gave them the break in the case they needed, so that's why I'm here. They thought it would be best if the buyer was someone who wasn’t a member of Five 0 or someone she might know. Now we don't have much time. Fred is trying to keep whoever the woman in there is occupied long enough for us to talk. So, what is going on, McGarrett? Where’s Williams? Kelly found blood at the Palace, is he all right? Any idea what she wants?"

Glancing again towards the kitchen and relaxing a little as he heard the soft murmurs of Fred and Angela talking, Steve looked back at Lou as he tried to answer as many of Grover’s questions as he could before Angela returned. "Her real name is Angela Hawkins, her husband Shawn was a Navy SEAL."

"Her husband's a SEAL?" Lou frowned.

"Was! He was court marshalled and jailed a few years ago for murder and died while in Leavenworth." Steve swallowed hard, "It was my testimony that got him convicted."

"So, she wants revenge," Lou breathed.

"I think she wants to take everything she lost away from me and she’s using Danny to make sure I co-operate with her plans. She wants me to suffer just like Shawn suffered, as she thinks her family suffered." Lou saw the anguish and guilt in Steve's eyes, "Listen, I’ve got to play along with her until we can get Danny away from her. He’s in bad condition and she has someone watching him, with orders to kill him, in case I try anything or tip anyone off.”

“Any idea how many are involved?” Lou asked, not liking what he was being told.

“There’s at least three of them, Angela, her son and at least one other man.” Steve told him softly, glancing towards the kitchen as he heard the murmuring in the kitchen stop. A heartbeat later, one of the kitchen chairs scrape across the floor, warning them that someone had just stood up and was probably headed back to the living room .

"I'll arrange to have my own house inspection done as soon as I possibly can," Lou smiled, giving Steve’s arm a light reassuring squeeze, quickly changing the subject as Angela hurried back into the living room with Fred right behind her. "And if he finds no problems, I would like to make an offer on the house."

"That will be fine." Steve nodded as Angela hurried across to stand by his side again, grabbing his arm with one arm while her other arm clutched the handbag she had hanging over her shoulder.

Glancing down at his watch, Lou frowned. "Oh, I didn't realize it was so late." Looking back up at Steve and Angela, he smiled. "It's been a pleasure to meet both of you and look through your beautiful home. And I am sure that I will be making an offer in the next couple of days." He watched Angela's eyes light up and her grip on Steve's arm tighten in excitement at his words before he added politely, "Now if you will excuse me, I really need to go. I have an appointment with a plumber at the other house." Looking across at Fred, he asked, "Can I give you a lift back to your office? It's on my way."

"Yes, please." Fred nodded a little too fast before he looked back at Angela, who was watching him closely, as he chuckled and explained, "My car got towed this morning for parking in the No Parking Zone outside the business. Guess the officer who got it towed was tired of writing me tickets." He shrugged as he added softly, "I will call you if he puts in an offer or the other interested buyer wants to look around."

"Please do," Angela told him as she and Steve walked Lou and Fred to the door. "And it was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Thompson." She smiled as she opened the door for them to leave.

Steve watched warily as she closed the door behind the two men and turned back to him reaching into her handbag and removing the handcuffs before silently ordering him to turn around.

"It looks like you just saved your partner from another beating... for now," she told him coldly as she grabbed his arms and handcuffed them tightly behind his back.

Holding Steve's arm firmly as they walked down the stairs, Angela was unable to stop smiling. The realtor said they could probably ask for and get at least seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the house, maybe even seven hundred and sixty if they could make the buyer believe that they had other offers. Seven hundred and fifty thousand! She couldn't believe it! But this was just the start!

She had even bigger plans for Lieutenant Commander Steven McGarrett. Plans that were going to make her a very, very rich woman and ruin not only his precious reputation but the rest of his life, as short as it may be.

Her smile morphed into a grin of excited anticipation for her future as she opened the car door and ordered Steve to get in before blindfolding him again and slamming the door closed. Hurrying around to the driver's side of the car, she opened her own door, pausing to quickly look around for anyone too interested in them before she climbed in, started the engine and pulled out into the light traffic.

Glancing across at the silent, blindfolded man sitting next to her, she smiled. "Well, Steve, who knew that your father could ever afford a seven hundred and fifty-thousand-dollar house on a cop's salary." Returning her attention back to the traffic, she laughed sardonically, "And you accused Shawn of being greedy! Looks like he wasn’t the only one who was greedy but at least he wasn’t a dirty cop like your father!"

Digging his fingernails into the palm of his hands to stop himself from responding to the taunts, Steve forced himself to remain silent as he felt the car turn left around a corner. He frowned as he tried to map out the route they were traveling in his head while she continued to taunt him.

"So, I wonder how Mary is feeling at the moment. After all, it's not every day that a girl discovers her father is not her father and her brother doesn’t want anything to do with…" Angela's taunt trailed off when she glanced into the rear vision mirror and noticed a strangely familiar motorbike trailing two cars behind her. She frowned and looked back at the road before taking a right-hand turn at the next corner, her eyes traveling immediately back to the mirror as she watched the motorbike turn the corner a few heartbeats later. "Sons of bitches!" she growled as she turned right again to confirm her suspicions.

Watching the mirror, she released the breath she was holding as the motorbike continued straight ahead. She shook her head and laughed nervously as she took the next left and began to drive again in the direction of the house, only to notice the same motorbike traveling several cars behind a few minutes later. "Sons of bitches!" she growled again as she reefed the steering wheel to the left, taking the next corner on two wheels as she grabbed for her cell phone.

Hearing Angela curse, Steve knew instantly that something had gone desperately wrong. Desperately rubbing his face against the back car seat as Angela took the corner too fast on two wheels, he managed to slip free of the blindfold to find Angela staring at something in in the rear vision mirror .Looking back in the rear vision mirror, Steve spotted a familiar motorbike that was following them at a distance. _'Chin!'_ Glancing back at Angela, he saw her reach for her phone.

She waited for less than a minute for her call to be answered before she snapped into it, "We're being followed, you know what to do..."

Realizing that Angela was ordering Danny’s murder, Steve threw himself at Angela, causing her to drop the phone and jerk the steering wheel to the left, sending the car off the road and into one of the trees that lined the street. He heard Angela cry out in surprise as they were both thrown forward by the impact before his head hit the windshield and he heard the sound of breaking glass and crumbling metal before the world around him faded to black.


	14. Chapter 14

Swallowing hard as he slowly lowered his phone and placed it back into his pocket, David turned and stared at the basement door. He could feel his heart racing as his mother’s echo over and over again in his mind. _“We're being followed, you know what to do...”_

Seeing the blood drain from his friend’s face, Chris asked, “What’s happened? What did she say?”

“She said kill him.” David answered almost robotically as he forced himself to walk towards the door.

“You’re not really going to do it, are you?” Chris asked in horror as he grabbed his friend’s arm and spun him around, “Come on, Brah, he’s a cop and you saw for yourself that he’s got a little kid who’s younger than you were when your father was sent to Leavenworth.”

“So?” David asked, trying to shrug free of his friend’s grip.

“Damn it, David, you said it yourself, the only thing your mother has against him is the fact he’s unlucky enough to be McGarrett’s partner and now you’re going to kill him just because she told you to! That’s crazy!”

“She’s my mother!”

“And we both know that she’s bat-shit crazy, David!”

“And we both know that will happen if I don’t do what she wants.” David’s voice hitched as he pulled free of his friend’s grip and headed across to the door, “I don’t have a choice.”

Staring at his friend’s back, Chris shook his head, “You do have a choice, David, we’ve always had a choice, we just didn’t know it.”

“You might have but I don’t, she’s my mother!” David said softly as he stopped and turned back to look at his friend, his face hardening. “And if she wants me to kill Williams, then that’s just what I am going to! Now are you going to help me or not?”

Taking several steps backwards, Chris shook his head, “No, no, I’m not! This whole revenge thing has gone far enough. She might have convinced me that McGarrett needed to be punished for what he did to your father and for destroying all your lives. I even agreed that McGarrett owed her everything that he took away from her, from you and Jordan. But I am not going to kill an innocent man. Williams was just supposed to be used to force McGarrett to do what she wanted, and if that meant roughing him up to get McGarrett to co-operate I was willing to do that for her, after all, she took me in when no one else would. But the plan never included us murdering him in cold blood-”

“What did you think was going to happen?” David growled, “Did you really believe after all this was over, that she was going to let him walk out of here to testify against us? You can’t really believe that she was really going to let McGarrett live either after she is finished with him. Cause you’re lulu if you did.” He sighed and shook his head, sadly, “But you’re wrong, I don’t have a choice but you’re right as well, you do, so get the Hell out of here, Chris, while you can!”

Watching as his friend turned and headed towards the basement door, Chris swallowed hard, knowing nothing more he could say was going to change David’s mind. Spinning around, he headed towards the door, hoping that even if David was not willing to listen to him that what they were doing was just so wrong that maybe Jordan would. Maybe he could convince Jordan that this needed to stop.

Hearing Chris slam the door behind him, David turned the key unlocking the basement door before he pushed it open. Entering the small damp room, he hesitated as he stared at the handcuffed cop who was lying, motionless, on his side on the cold cement floor next to the far wall. Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves and strengthen his resolve to do what he needed to do, he slowly walked across and stared down at Williams. "Hiya, Cop," he whispered, "Wanna know somethin' funny? It seems your buddy is a liar and he didn’t have your back after all, like he promised. ...I guess he screwed you over just like he did my father. He had no intention of the two of you getting out of this together, he was more interested in saving his own sorry skin by leading my mother into a trap. And now he’s forcing me to do kill you,…” His hand shook as he pointed his gun down towards the cop’s head and he tried to force himself to pull the trigger as he murmured almost unconsciously, "She's forcing me to... just...just to teach him a lesson..."

Biting his lip, he tried harder to force his finger to tighten on the trigger but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it, no matter how hard he tried. A sob tore from his throat as he kicked Danny as hard as he could in frustration, hearing Danny cry out in pain as something snap beneath his foot at the same time as something snapped in his mind. Years of frustration, fear and anger boiled over and he took it all out on the cop on the ground, kicking him over and over again, long after the cop stopped moaning and he was too exhausted to kick him again.

Staring down at the bloody man lying motionless at his feet, David was horrified and sickened by his own brutality. This is what she had reduced him to! Swallowing hard, he dropped the gun before he reached into his pocket and removed the set of keys to the handcuffs. Leaning down it took several attempts, see through the blur of tears that made it hard for him to see for him to insert the key into the lock and remove the handcuffs from Danny’s wrists, whispering an apology to the unconscious man and asking Danny to forgive him as he set him free.

Pocketing the handcuffs and grabbing the dropped gun, he slowly backed away until he backed into the wall next to the door. Sinking down against the wall he sat down on the cold floor as he stared at the body of the innocent man whom he had just murdered…for her. This is what she had reduced him to, murdering a man in cold blood so she got get her revenge. He shook his head as another sob escaped and he raised the gun and put the barrel in his mouth. His last thought as his fingered tightened on the trigger was the realization that this wasn’t even for revenge, it never was, this was just about her greed and her desire to get what she wanted. And she didn’t care who she used to do so or who got hurt.


	15. Chapter 15

Standing amongst the growing crowd of on-lookers, Angela watched as the police and medical personal worked to stabilize the injured man who was still inside the wreckage before they tried to move him. She wasn’t sure just how seriously McGarrett injured or even how he had survived the crash, the front passenger’s side of the car had taken the full impact against the tree.

She had been lucky; she had managed to brace herself a little against the impending impact in the few seconds after she had lost control of the car and it sped towards the tree. The impact had momentarily stunned her and she had not escaped injury free, but she had managed to escape before the cop tailing them on the motorbike had arrived on the scene.

"It was a trap! A God damn trap," she growled angrily to herself as she turned and began to limp away from the scene, muttering, “and I was an idiot and walked right into it.” Turning her head to glare back at the car as she heard someone call for a back board, she cursed as she bumped into a bystander. Turning back, she opened her mouth to give them a piece of her mind but anything she was going to say was forgotten as she found herself staring at the man who had been interested in buying McGarrett’s house only minutes before.

“Going somewhere, Mary-Anne?” Lou asked softly as he reached for her arm before he added, “Or would you prefer that I call you by your real name - Angela?”

H50 H50 H50

“Hold his head as still as you can while I get the backboard behind him.”

Lifting his hand up to try and grab one of the hands that firmly prevented him from even moving his head, Steve moaned as he opened his eyes and tried to bring the world around him into focus.

Quickly reaching across, Chin grabbed Steve’s hand and firmly lowered it back down to Steve’s lap as he gently admonished his friend, “It’s okay Steve, you’ve been in an accident. “The doc doesn’t want you to move your head just in case you have hurt your neck or back. We’re just getting you onto the backboard so we can get you out of the car and to the hospital where we can get the docs to check you out.”

“Did you get… her, Chin?” Steve mumbled as he struggled to turn his head to look around, searching for his tormentor who had been in the car.

Chin squeezed Steve’s shoulder as he looked out of the shattered window at the woman who was struggling like a wildcat, screaming obscenities between scratching and trying to bite as Lou roughly spun her and secured her hands behind her, “We’ve got her, Steve, do you know where she is holding Danny?”

“It’s to ... late… Chin… she…she’s… already ordered…them to kill…him…” Steve mumbled softly, a single tear rolling down his face as his eyes closed and he lost consciousness as the paramedic fitted the neck brace around his neck before securing him to the board.

“Okay, he’s secure, let’s get him out of here.” The paramedic announced, quickly moving Chin out of the way before they carefully lifted Steve free of the wreckage.


	16. Chapter 16

"The nerve...makin’ me come all this way on the damn bus... " the old man mumbled under his breath as he climbed onto the lanai of the old dilapidated house that he had once shared with his late wife. The house had been trashed before being abandoned by the last tenants several years ago and he did not have the money, or even the heart anymore, to make the needed repairs, so he had simply boarded up the windows and walked away, promising himself that one day he would do it up and sell it. “Damn whinging, haole neighbours calling me up to complain about the noises coming from a goddamn empty house. If ya ask me, they have been drinkin’ to many of their fancy cocktails and sittin’ out in the midday sun and it’s starting to affect their goddamn brains. Claiming they heard a damn gunshot coming from inside, if they were that damn worried, why did they call me to come and investigate and not the cops?!” He continued to complain under his breath as he unlocked the front door and stepped inside and looked around.

Nothing had really changed since the last time he had checked on the house. There was still trash littering the floor, left behind by some squatters who were probably looking for somewhere quiet to hang out, the paint was still peeling on the walls that were now covered with spray painted graffiti and the smell of mould, dust and something he did not want to want to identify permeated through the house. He sighed, aware that Jenny would be so heartbroken if she saw the condition of the house that had been their home for over forty years now.

Swallowing hard, and angrily brushing away a tear, he pushed the pain that always came whenever he thought of Jenny back down to where he didn’t have to deal with it as he turned around and for the first time, noticed the door to the basement, where he kept the few items that belonged to the house and his life with Jenny that he had not been able to part with, closed. "What the hell? God damn it…Damn bums. Can't they leave my stuff alone?" He growled as he crossed the room and reached for the knob, turning it before he gingerly pushed the door open and warily stepped inside.

He waited a moment, holding his breath, for his eyes to adjust to the semidarkness before he slowly looked around and frowned. He was greeted by the nauseating smell of blood and sweat. A metal hook now dangled from the exposed beam in the middle of the room and Jenny’s small dining room table that he had carefully covered with a sheet ten years before had been pushed against the side wall with what looked like one of those powerful battery lanterns, that could light up a room, sitting in the middle of the table.

“What the Hell?” he murmured again, his confusion growing as he crossed to the table and pressed the switch on the lantern, flooding the room with the bright light as he slowly turned and looked around.

"Holy shit," he muttered as he found himself staring at the beaten, bloodied body of a man that was lying next to the far wall. Backing up a few steps, shocked at his discovery, he spun around and found himself staring at a second body, a gun still loosely resting in the man’s hand, was slumped against the blood-splattered wall next to the door. “Shit, oh shit!” he gasped as he ran to the door, slamming it shut behind him before he fled from the house.

H50H50H50

The sound of the slamming door pulled Danny from the warm cocoon of darkness into which he had slipped to escape the pain.

The pain! It was everywhere! It was alive and it had re- awoken with a vengeance! And it was clawing and chewing at his insides, like a thousand meat eating ants, trying to eat him alive. He was unable to stop the agonized groan that slipped between his lips as he rolled over onto his side and drew his knees up to his chest in a desperate attempt to relieve his unending pain. He could feel his own hot tears trickle down his face as he turned his head and tried to press his hot, flushed face against the cold cement floor.

He was no longer bound. He resisted the urge to laugh as the realization flittered through his thoughts. There was no need to restrain him anymore. There was no fear that he was going to escape. He was dying and his death was agonizingly painful and slow.

He whimpered as he drew in a shallow breath as his ribs screamed in protest and he closed his eyes, "I'm sorry Steve… I tried…" He breathed as he allowed himself to slide back into the beckoning, painless darkness, "I really tried …" he moaned as the world around him disappeared again.

H50 H50 H50

"I told you, I haven't been to check on the house for a couple of months. It's not like I had any tenants in it, but the damn neighbours just couldn't leave me alone. Claimed they heard gunshots coming from the house but why the called me and not you, I will never know.” The old man complained, still shocked, as he led the HPD homicide detectives and the two uniformed officers into the old rundown house and across to the closed basement door. "And what do I find when I get here? I will tell you what the hell I find. I find the house has been taken over by squatters and not one but two god damn bodies in my basement! That's what I found! Nearly, gave me a damn heart attack! Look at my goddamn hands, they’re still shaking." He told them holding his hands out at the officers, “Just look! Look!”

Distractedly thanking the grumbling landlord in a firm dismissal, the Homicide detective nodded for one of the uniformed officers to escort him back outside before he turned and opened the basement door, carefully pushing it open, immediately smelling the far too familiar smell of blood sweat and tears.

Staring at the figure lying against the far wall, he found himself staring at the body of the missing Five 0 detective, "Danny!" Manu gasped as he ran across the small distance that separated them as his partner stared for a moment at the haole who had been one of their colleagues for six months before being transferred to the Governor’s elite task force. Dropping to his knees, he pressed his fingers against Danny's too cool neck, desperately feeling for a pulse.

“Is he alive?” Kaeo asked his partner, anxiously watching Manu search for Danny’s pulse as he knelt down and checked for the pulse of the man slump next to the door, not expecting to find one when the back of the head of the man was splattered across the wall.

It seemed like an eternity before the Homicide detective felt the weak throb he felt beneath his fingertips. Looking back up at his partner, he nodded as he released the breath that he had not even realized he was holding in a nervous relieved laugh, “Yeah…yeah he is!”

“Thank God!” Kaeo breathed as Manu looked at the uniformed officer who was standing at the door and yelled, "Get a damn bus here, now!"


	17. Chapter 17

Pulling her hand free from Lou's firm grip, Angela snatched her hand back after she had been made to press her fingers down on the small electronic fingerprinting screen. Spinning around to face the Five 0 officer, she began to demand loudly, "I want my phone call."

"You can make your call after we finish processing you," Lou told her for the third time since they had arrived at booking, reaching for her arm and quickly re-cuffing her before grabbing her arm.

"I know my rights, and I demand to make my phone call now!" Angela demanded even louder as she attempted to shrug Lou's hand away.

"And I have told you not until after we finish processing you," Lou stated again as he tightened his hold on her thin arm and led her across to the height chart to be photographed, "but the longer you continue not to cooperate with us, the longer it's going to be before you make that call."

"I know my rights! You have no right to refuse me my phone call!" Angela yelled again as she attempted to kick the young officer who stepped forward to hold the board with all her relevant information in front of her chest in preparation for her frontal mugshot.

"And I have already told you that you can make your phone call after we have finished processing you," Lou growled softly as he grabbed her roughly and pulled her back, causing her kick to hit nothing but air before he repositioned her on the cross painted on the floor that indicated where a suspect stood for the mugshot. "And the longer you fight, the longer it's going to be before you get to make that call. And if you try to injure another of my officers again, I will personally place you into a holding cell until you calm down, and you won't be making any call for a couple more hours, understand?"

Scowling at Lou, Angela fell silent, gritting her teeth as she turned and faced the camera. Turning slowly to the right as she was directed to do, she stood glaring with unadulterated hatred at one of the men who had just brutally ripped all of her plans and dreams away. Her hands balled up into tight fists behind her back as she imagined herself leaping forward and wrapping her hands around his throat, slowly and painfully squeezing the life out of him. Turning around to face the left, she sternly reminded herself that that would have to wait 'til later. First, she had other more important things to take care of.

Spinning back around to face Lou again as soon as she heard the police photographer tell the scumbag Five 0 cop that they were done, she demanded again, "Okay, Pig, I let you finish processing me, now I want to call my phone call. Now!"

Lou sighed. If he had his way, he would happily lock this woman up and throw away the key without allowing her to speak to anyone. But he was a cop, and he was not going to risk allowing some smarmy lawyer to get this woman off just because he had not followed the arrest procedure by the book and had taken too long to allow her to make her one phone call. Not after all she had forced Steve and Danny to endure in her sick attempts of revenge.

Grabbing her arm again, he led her back across to the booking desk before he reluctantly uncuffed her hands and snapped, "Who do you want to call?"

Smiling sweetly, Angela winked. "Why, I just want to call my lawyer of course. Who else would I want to call?"

H50 H50 H50

Lou looked up from the arrest report he was filling in as the young, well-dressed man carrying a briefcase entered and paused near the door. Smoothing down the dark blue suit jacket he was wearing and confidently running his hand over his well-kept hair, the young man strode across to the sergeant standing at the booking desk. Pulling out a card from an inside pocket of his jacket, he handed it across the desk to the sergeant as he quietly introduced himself. "Jordan Rollings, Mrs. Hawkins' lawyer. I understand you are holding my client here. May I ask what the charges against my client are?"

Glancing down at the long list of prisoners currently held in custody to make certain that he could accurately tell the lawyer the long list of charges being brought against the woman who had attempted to kill two of their own, Ron located Angela's name before he looked back up, glancing across at Lou who had pushed away the report he was writing and rose from his seat. Returning his attention back to the lawyer as Lou reached the younger man's side, he announced, "Mrs. Hawkins is currently charged with aggravated kidnapping of two police officers, attempted murder of both officers, torture, deprivation of liberty, attempted fraud, and resisting arrest."

"Your client has also been charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, and that's just for starters. If Detective Williams dies, she will be facing murder in the first degree. And that means life." Lou added, before glancing back at the desk sergeant and announcing, "I will take care of Mr. Rollings, Ron."

"If she is found guilty," the lawyer reminded him as he signed the prisoner visitor's sign-in book and followed Lou to the holding cell area. Reaching the steel-barred interview room door, the lawyer turned and sneered at Lou. "And I don't intend on that happening. Now if you excuse me, I want to talk to my client alone," he announced as he opened the door and stepped into the room before the bars clanged firmly shut behind him.

Standing at the door, he waited until the officer locked the door and walked away before he turned back to the woman at the table watching him with a small triumphant smile on her face.

"Did you have any trouble?" Angela asked as he walked around the table and kissed her cheek.

He shook his head. "No, it went just as you predicted it would. If they decide to check, they will see I'm a lawyer, there's nothing to make them suspect that I am anything more." Walking back around to the other side of the table, he placed the empty briefcase on the table and sat down, frowning. "So, what happened? We had it all planned."

"I don't know." Angela shook her head before she paused, silent for a moment as she stared the door before she suddenly looked back at the young man sitting opposite her and spat out, "I'm betting it was that bastard, McGarrett! He must have warned the other cops somehow! The bastard somehow set me with a fake buyer and had his friends outside to follow me. And somehow, he also managed to tip them off about where we had his partner, I heard them talking about finding Williams over the police radio and calling for an ambulance. They said he was alive. I don't know how that bastard did it, but this is all his fault!"

Jordan's frown deepened in confusion as he looked across at the furious woman on the other side of the table. He asked, "Where is David? Did he manage to get away?"

"He's dead." Angela answered succinctly as she rose to her feet and wandered across to the barred window, glancing out at the darkening skyline just beyond. She turned back to look at the shocked young man still sitting at the table, staring at her as she reached inside the top of her dress and pulled a paper tissue she had tucked under the strap of her bra, using it to dab a crocodile tear that she allowed to trickle down her face as she whispered, "I heard the cops who found Williams also announced that they had one suspect down and asked for the coroner to attend the scene on the police radio. I bet McGarrett’s cops shot him down like a dog in the street probably when he was trying to surrender. He was only a baby, a baby, Jordan, and now they have killed him! They murdered my baby boy in cold blood, just like McGarrett murdered your father. And now, McGarrett is going to try and murder me."

"That's not going to happen," Jordan told her softly, glancing towards the door to ensure they were still alone before he jumped up from his seat and hurried across to his mother. Wrapping his arms around her, he gently kissed the top of her head as he whispered, "I promise, that's not going to happen."

"And just how are you going to stop it?" Angela demanded as she pulled out of her son's embrace.

Jordan smiled the same smile his mother smiled each time she had spoken about her plans for revenge as they were growing up after McGarrett had murdered his father with his contemptuous lies in court. "They have forty-eight to seventy-two hours to bring you before a judge for arraignment…"

"Forty-eight to seventy-two hours?" Angela shrieked.

"Shhh," Jordan warned her softly as he darted another furtive look towards the door before he returned his attention back to his mother. "But the cop who brought me to the interview room seems pretty confident that they have a strong case against you so I doubt they will wait that long. So, to arraign you, they are going to have to take you to the courthouse…"

Angela nodded. "So?"

"Leave it to me." Jordan smiled as he turned and walked back to the table and picked up his briefcase and called out to the officer to open the door so he could leave. Turning back to his mother, he said softly, "I promise we will get revenge not only for dad but for David as well. Trust me."

Nodding, Angela smiled with pride as she watched Jordan walk across to the door and wait for the officer to reach the interview cell and unlock the door without even looking back at her.


End file.
